In this episode:
Dialogue – Judge Hannah Dugan arrested in Wisconsin for allowing an immigrant defendant escape
Entertainment – Ryan Coogler and the success of his new film, Sinners
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Still broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. This is the
QR code where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes.
I am Rams's job. I am Qward and in this
half of the show, we want you to stick around
because we got more to share with you. First up,
we are going to be hearing from Qward, or specifically
Qward's clapback. He mentioned something about a cross section of
(00:24):
people that need to get clapped at, and so I
won't go any more detail because we had some fun
with that earlier. See you laughing over there, but trust me,
we're gonna have something over that. We're also gonna be
talking about the judge that was arrested for kind of
standing up for, you know, immigrants that were being chased
down by ice, and we think that's a story that
is worth sharing with everyone. We're also gonna take a
(00:48):
little bit of time to discuss Ryan Coogler and the
film Centers. It's just a fantastic cultural moment and for
those that are not familiar with that, hopefully we can
give you some some motivation to check that out. But
for now, it is time for two words clap back.
What you got for us?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So very interesting that we're going to be talking about
Centers here in a minute, because I've noticed a trend
on social media over the last week as Centers is
being just critically acclaimed, not just critically acclaimed, but ringing
it up at the box office as well. I think
it had the lowest drop off from opening week in
(01:28):
the history of cinema, a less than ten percent drop
off from opening week, and the movie's made close to
two hundred million dollars already as we as we get
further into its release, I was able to see it
on Imax, which it was shot in Imax cameras. There's
a Marvel movie coming up or coming out this week,
(01:49):
and I believe or coming out soon that's going to
push it out of my out of Imax. But the
movie has been so successful some theaters have decided that
the Marvel movie gonna have to wait because Centers is
doing its thing. But the thing that I've noticed that
it's so disheartening, and it's us. I guess, our people.
Our contrarianism is just growing by the day, and I'm
(02:11):
seeing Black people go out of their way to talk
about how mid or average or not that great. This
movie is and I know it's not because they don't
think it's great. I think some of them haven't even
seen it. It's just that, well, everybody's saying it's great.
So the way that I can flex and get some
likes and some attention and look like the smart guy
(02:31):
in the room is if I just take the contrarian position.
And that's become the case not just with sinners, but
with the shape of the Earth that the flat earthers
haven't done any scientific research to prove their point. It's
just a bold contrarian position to take to declare yourself freethinking.
But the then diagram is what has become so interesting
(02:55):
to me because the most recent time I saw somebody
declare Centers a mid movie that wasn't all that great,
funny the movie they compared it to that that it
You know, people are acting like this movie is the
Godfather or something. Well, how come the Godfather gets to
be the greatest movie ever? Is it because it was old?
Or is it because the director and the protagonists and
(03:16):
all the characters don't look like you? And you can
accept that something made by us, that looks like us,
that's made for us could be the best. So I
start scrolling backwards and I noticed a very interesting cross section.
What you're going to say, Please, I'd love to hear
where you think. I'm going.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Okay, and I don't want to jump in front of you,
and far be it for me to stay another man's brief.
But how about this, because you're talking about contrary and
now I do a lot of work with you. But
I bet you're going to say that the person that
has an issue with Sinners is the same person that
took an issue with Kendrick. Is the same person that
at Kendrick had the Super Bowls. The same person that
(03:54):
took an issue with Kamala Harris when she was running
for president is the same person that we find that
these different points in society when you know we're having
a cultural moment and they are like continually the dissenters.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
There's a scary thing that happens when you work with
someone so closely for this long that it is that
they read your mind. But it's not a singular person.
It's people. It's all of the people. I'm going to say,
all of those things that you just said are the
same person. Right, Kamala's messaging wasn't good enough apologizing for
Maga Kendrick. Wasn't that good? Drake won the battle? The
(04:28):
earth is flat. It's like, wow, this super Bowl performance
was the worst I'd ever seen. Sinners isn't that good
of a movie. It's it's like contrarian and anti us,
and it sucks because it's us, all the people that
we just named, it's black people, young black people.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Let me.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I want to I want to add something here, this experience.
I think it's important that this is that we're sharing
this right now because this is something that I don't
I don't experience this when I'm on social media. I'm
on social media for a very different reason. And you
are just a popular person in general, like everybody wants
(05:10):
to be your friend. I know you're like magical dude.
And I go on social media and I think I'm
in a group chat with you and like my family,
and so you have like more I guess, more interactions
with people, and I think that you're more of like
the lightning rod when it comes to our programming.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Which is an interesting thing that happens. I don't really
interact with people at all. I just read a lot
of stories, like if somebody followed us or me on
social media, I am q Ward on all socials. They'll
notice you've posted three times in the last year, six
times in the last two years, nine times in the
last three years. I don't post a lot. I share
a lot of stories, though, Okay, so I'm unfortunately, because
(05:50):
of what we do, very very tuned into what's going
on in the world and what's going on in this country.
That does not always just involve politics, which we cover,
you know, very very often, but you know, popular culture
in general, music and you know, civic engagement and entertainment
and sports are also topics that come across our desk
(06:12):
and that come through my feed, and you know, the
algorithm understands that those are things that I'm interested in,
so I see them all the time. I see those stories,
I share those stories. I don't do a lot of
interacting with those people. I would drive myself crazy messaging
that person back that said this movie that I've now
seen twice wasn't that good. But you're observing. But I'm
observing the behavior. And like I said, I as soon
(06:33):
as I read it, I felt it. Let me scroll back.
Like I scrolled back, I didn't scroll back to do
research or to investigate. I knew I would find what
I was looking for. I knew I just had to
scroll far enough. And luckily Kendrick's on tour right now.
So the same people that are saying centers aren't that good,
or the same people saying that all those fifty thousand
(06:53):
people that are at that show are bots, it's the
same people, or that they used AI when we were
going to the least during the during the campaign, that
they used AI to make those places look for We're like, no,
we're here, it's not AI. It's these are people, you know,
and and that's and those type of people will will
move the gold posts and they can't just be wrong
and they can't just be contrarian for contrarian's sake, so
(07:16):
they end up spiraling down these rabbit holes of conspiracy
theory and nonsense. And let me ask you something.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Please, do you because I've heard you mentioned a couple
of times that it's us meaning like black people. Yes,
do you think it could be Russian bots? Because I
looked into that and those things are so sophisticated.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
No, because I'm not just talking about profile list accounts.
I'm talking about personalities, like I'm looking at videos of
black people, some of them famous, talking like it's actual
opinions from actual.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
People, and it's just to get on people's nerves. The
one thing that I think people they don't.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Assume that it's just to get on people's ned I
think they believe themselves, but I know the reason they
arrived at where they are is contrarian with no foundation.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Well, thank you for that. Clapback forward, Tom anymore. All right, now,
let's have some dialogue. Let's talk about the judge that
was arrested for standing up for immigrants. Now, for those
that are not familiar with the story, I'm gonna pay
a little bit of pictures. This comes from the La Times.
(08:16):
The flurry of immigration enforcement at courthouses around the country
in the last month, already heavily criticized by judicial officials
and lawyers, has renewed a legal bottle from President Trump's
first term, as advocates feer people might avoid coming to court.
It's drawing further attention with last Friday's arrest of judge
Hannah Dugan in Wisconsin. The FBI arrested Dugan on suspicion
(08:37):
that she taught she tried sorry to help a defendant
evade waiting federal agents by letting him leave her courtroom
through a jury door.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Some of these judges think they are beyond and above
the law, and they are not. And we're sending a
very strong message today, Attorney General Pam Bondi said during
an appearance on Fox News after the arrest. So I
guess I'll share some thoughts before you kind of jump
in here. But I kind of thought that judges were
(09:12):
the people that interpreted the law. So I don't know
that it's as much a matter of judges thinking that
they're above the law. But you know, judges have their place.
But here's something that I found recently. There's half of
the country that is turning a blind eye to this
(09:33):
sort of thing, right and the reason. And I wish
I had the article because the article could say it
better than I'm about to say it. But and of
course there's no like hard numbers to go with this.
But if you hear me, I think that you'll feel
the truth in this statement. And if not, if you're listening,
you know, please feel free to disagree. You can find
me on all social media at Rams's job. But the
(09:58):
people that voted for Donald Trump second time or a
third time, those triple Trumpers. Right, These people do not
care about law and order if it does not if
it prevents them from getting or forgets prevents us from
(10:22):
getting to the version of the country that they want.
They don't care that Donald Trump is not a normal politician.
They don't care that he does some evil things. They
don't care that Republicans do some things that objectively would
would would be considered evil. They think that Jesus Christ
(10:45):
would be in line at a polling station in front
of the klu klux klansmen and behind the Nazi standing
in line to all collectively go vote for Donald Trump. Right,
This is the reality for them. They don't care that
that Trump is breaking rules and cutting through that doesn't.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
We can we can we say breaking laws?
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Breaking laws?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
That's breaking rules sound so benign and not serious.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Thank you for coming break your laws, right, But they
love the fact that that now that they feel like
he's above the law, that he is the law. That's
probably the best way to say it. And so there's
half of the country that will look at this and say, yeah,
of course, arrest the judge ice is there to do
what they're you know, what I mean, and while we
(11:32):
are this is kind of these are like the embers
that kind of start sort of civil war stuff. Man.
And I don't think that. I think that maybe like
half of the country doesn't realize that the rules are
for all of us all the time, that that that
this this country was framed in such a way that
(11:56):
it could thrive in perpetuity because this country had learned
from the societies before it and how those societies had collapsed.
And we're at four hundred or so years into this
American experiment. And I think that people think that while
they're up right now, those on the right, in particular
(12:17):
far right I'll say far right, while they're up right now,
for them to turn a blind eye to the constitution
and the framework of this society, I think that's shooting
themselves in the foot. We are not old enough to
just swing in one direction and have it be all good.
There are countries that are a lot older than the
United States. China is bragging right now that they are
(12:39):
not sitting down at a negotiating table with Donald Trump
to negotiate the terroriffts they're bragging, they're like China's been
here for five thousand years will be fine. That's really
what they're on right. So for the people that look
at this like, oh, this is fine. They're arresting judges. Now, No,
this is crazy. This should not be happening. And there
(13:00):
were a lot of steps that people turned to blind
eye to before we got to this point. At no
point should this happen this, this should have been litigated
long before, and indeed it was. But what we're seeing
is a regime effectively ignoring lawful orders from the courts
of the land. And it's been politics as usual until today.
(13:25):
And if there are people that rise up against this,
it's not we the people, it's really just one half
of the country, because the other half is looking at
us like, yeah, we're finally getting our country back. Trump's in,
They're finally getting rid of all these illegals, and no,
Trump is putting on a show. And yes, there are
some people who are not technically here legally yet, but
(13:47):
if you're deporting you know, one hundred thousand people, and
seven hundred and fifty thousand of them have never committed
a crime, then they're not illegal criminals. If you're deporting
people just.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Seventy five thousand, I think you mean five thousand.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
That's what I meant to that. Yeah, and and and
again these numbers, I want to make sure that I
stated as clearly as I can these numbers. I haven't
yet to verify them, but they come from trusted sources.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
So we we tend to try not to get bogged
down with semantics. And it's not to be inaccurate, it's
to we're making a point that whether or not the numbers,
it's not specific to the to the numbers, the exact number.
And I also don't want us to veer into illegals.
They're deporting citizens. Yeah, that too, I was getting there,
(14:33):
Like let's let's let's I mean, let's cut across the
grass though, like because they can try to soundly make
an argument that illegal should be deported either way, the
way that they're doing it is illegal. And how dare
this judge want there to be due process before you
just arrest, attain and deport someone? Like, how dare a
judge think that you should follow the law? Oh my god? Right,
(14:55):
So they're the they're the party of law and order
until it comes time for them to break the law.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Said it best right there.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Until it comes time for them to break the law.
We need to say it with those words. Though. They're
the party of law and order and back the Blue
and all that nonsense until it's time for them to
break the law, and then they're anti American, anti law enforcement,
anti due process, anti constitution, and anti judge.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
That's when they start looking at the same judge.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
The back to blue all lives matter people are the
same get out of my country, go to some prison
in a foreign country with no due process, arrest judges.
The same people that were anti defund the police became
defund the FBI when it wasn't in their best interest
to let us break the law whenever we feel like it,
(15:44):
because we're right and it's our country and it's only
our country.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
You go.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
So it is a really, really disgusting time. And you
said the words civil war. Once upon a time that
could happen. The United States military is the muscle of
the President of the United States. We can't start a
civil war against them, like they can't happen anymore. It's
(16:10):
no longer a possibility. You know, we can march in
the streets. But if every American with every gun they
had took to arms against the United States military be
a very short fight. So the idea of civil war
is no longer a realistic idea. I don't know what
we're supposed to do now, you guys, let Donald Trump
become the president again, and he told you he was
(16:30):
going to do everything that he's doing, or I'm sorry
they published everything that he was going to do, and
then he threw up his hands and say, hey, I
don't know what that is. I mean, of course, all
those people that wrote for me and were appointed by me,
but ha, come see, kumsah, why would you think that
that had anything to do with me? Until day one? Okay,
(16:51):
let's run it. And now we are watching the entire
world become a far less safe place because of what
we allowed to happen here in November. It is a
really disgusting and dangerous and scary place for us to be,
and most of us, I'm certain still don't realize that yet. Yeah,
(17:12):
because there's a lot of going on about our day,
like we always have happening, And I'm looking around sometimes like,
am I the only one that's reading all of this stuff?
Am I the only person that realizes all of this
is happening?
Speaker 1 (17:25):
There's a stunning silence across the land. But you know
one person that is still active, or was still active
until she was arrested. It was Judge Hannah Dugan in Wisconsin.
She did what was in her power, what she felt
was right. And you know, that is the sort of
(17:46):
thing that you're supposed to do. You're supposed to resist.
This country was birthed from resistance, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
You guys may have read about the Boston tea party. Yeah,
that happened because of tariffs on tea.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Just that all right, Well, for the last segment, we're
gonna shift over to some entertainment news. Ryan Coogler. He's
having a heck of a run. You know, his his
one of his partners, I'll say, uh, Chadwick Boseman passed away.
(18:22):
And that was you know, for those that are listening
that aren't black, I'm sure you know, because you wouldn't
be listening to us if you didn't know. But you
you probably know that that was a loss that we
all felt. Black black people across the board, we felt
that that felt special. He was kind of our superhero.
(18:44):
And you know, there's a couple of times when I cried.
I cried for Nipsey hustle, you know I did. I'm
from Compton, so that was you know, you know, southern California,
that lifestyle. That just felt like we shouldn't have lost him.
And you know Chadwick, that was another one where it's like,
(19:06):
you know, Kobe, you know, Kobe was another one where
it's like, that doesn't feel great to lose someone that
you looked up to. And so for Ryan Coogler to
then take take that moment, turn it into Black Panther two,
you know, pay homage to UH, to Chadwick, and continue
(19:29):
to honor him, but also continue to showcase his excellence.
I think that this is all of these things culminate
in this moment. Add to it that the movie centers
it has some sort of special deal with the movie
studio where the rights to the movie revert back to him.
(19:51):
And then I've also heard that there's going to be
a cinematic universe for Sinners too, And so this feels special.
This feels on par with like the Tyler Perry's and
like the building of an empire, which it doesn't happen
very often for us, and so we love the idea
of celebrating this. So when I share this I want
you to understand that this part of the show, we're
(20:14):
sharing it in that context. Okay, all right, So I'm
gonna share from Variety this year the Oscar season. Prayer
has a name and its Sinners. With Sinners, writer director
Ryan Kugler, one of Hollywood's most quietly seismic forces, steps
into a genre long neglected by the Academy and once
again reshapes the game. A slow burned psychological horror film,
(20:35):
Sinners is not just a pivot for Kugler. Rather, it's
a proclamation. For more than a decade, Kugler has been
Hollywood's quiet revolutionary symbolizing for the black community, a figure
akin to our very own Christopher Nolan. From chronicling the
final hours of Oscar Grant's life in Fruitvale Station, to
reviving the Rocky franchise with Creed, to breaking barriers with
(20:55):
the cultural juggernaut Black Panther, Kugler fuses personal and political
story telling with mass appeal. Like a few others, Now
I want to share something. This is in his own words,
and this is just him talking about Chadwick again for
folks that aren't familiar to just bringing you up to speed.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
But if I hadn't gotten started when I did and
graduated film score at twenty four and Mary Fruville at
twenty five and make Creed and Black Panther around time
being thirty. All these things were like Domino's for me.
(21:32):
And if I hadn't gotten that start, I never would
have met Chad Who's time with Solemnity.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
So yeah, that was him getting emotional there. But it
gives you an idea of one of the things that
I'll say. I'll just go ahead and say it. I
love the fact that he is authentically himself, right, he
has not had to dress it up anymore. And we're
talking about the way that he talks. He's from the
(22:00):
Bay Area and that's who he is. Oaktown, Oaktown, right.
For a lot of people to hear him speak, I
think that there's this idea, and it's across the board
(22:21):
of all races, of all walks of life, all socioeconomic backgrounds,
there's this idea I'm sure that exists that when you
hear him speak, you would not imagine that he's capable
of the complex.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Brilliant.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
H execution of storytelling, of creating a creating a series
of films.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Who wouldn't imagine, well, a lot of Detroit Mission, a
lot of people right from Compton, California. No, No, I know,
I know, absolutely imagine that that brother is from the Bay,
from east here, from our cousins. Now.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
But the point I'm making, the point I'm making capable
of complex, brilliant Flip this table over, I got you,
I got you, I got you. Hear me out, hear
me out, watch this. So there's a lot of people
that might hear him talking. There's a lot of people
that will hear me and you talking just how we
talk and feel like, oh, I need to stay away
from those guys, and would not imagine that we are
(23:20):
syndicated on one hundred and fifty radio stations across the
country and the words that we share with each other
actually that, you know, our part and parcel to the
empire that we've managed to build somehow. And so this
is why I really wanted to have him speak in
his own voice, uh and kind of share a little
(23:40):
bit of insight into who this person is, because I
think that for this part of the story, at least,
the one thing that I wanted to share with people
is that you never know what you're condemning. You never
know what you're fearing. You never know what you're you know,
trying to get away from. You never know what you're suppressing.
You never know what you're discriminating. Again, and how capable
(24:01):
and how brilliant the mind might be. You know things
that things like like accents, A lot of times those
are regional, they're cultural, and in no way reflects a
person's cognitive abilities. This is a lesson I learned a
long time ago because I said something in a conversation
once to a woman. This is an older white woman.
(24:23):
I was a teenager when I said it, but I
was talking about a person who had like kind of
a thick like country accent, right, And I was like,
oh man, they talk like they're stupid, they talk like
they're unintelligent. I said this right that I was a child, okay,
And she said, no, Ramses, they're not unintelligent, they're just Southern.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And she said it just like that, and it.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Was just like a switch, right. And so I'm trying
to help create that moment for people that may not
be familiar with you know who Ryan Coogler is now
as far as the film. You've seen the film, so
you know, talk to us a little bit about the film.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I've seen the film twice, and I don't like talking
about it because I like for people to be as
surprised by the rich cultural weaving that he does with
the storytelling in the visuals, Like it's a tapestry, man.
(25:22):
It is a rich tapestry, and it's so colorful, it's
so cinematic, and it's so black. It's based in the
Mississippi Delta during the sharecropping of the nineteen twenties and thirties.
It's a really really powerful thing going on where these
brothers from Chicago come back home to Mississippi and just
and tap back into their roots and where they're from,
(25:43):
and their reputation precedes them. But you know, a black
original ip horror. I don't even want to say the
next work. Some people might know and I want them
to be shocked. So I'm just gonna bite my tongue
on that one. It catches you off Guarden the best ways.
It's so created, it's so different, it's so brilliant, and
(26:04):
what Cougler has been able to do because he's had
so much success, He's done over two billion dollars at
the box office already. I think he's thirty something years
old and he was able to negotiate that deal that
you mentioned were and I think twenty years or twenty
five years, the rights and the masters come back to
him and his which doesn't happen. And he wouldn't have
(26:24):
been able to do that on prior stories because he's
telling someone else's stories IP that already exists with Marvel,
a story that already happened with Fruitville, an actual bio story,
and create so with Creed from the Rockies, you know universe,
this being his original IP. He not only negotiated to
get his the rights and the master's back, but first
(26:46):
dollar gross, which never happens. From the very first dollar
the movie makes. He gets his percentage, not after the
studio makes their money back, not after marketing costs, the
front run up front, from the first dollar made.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
I need mine right now in the mighty name. All right,
let me ask you something. I think you're gonna love
this question. Do you think that Ryan Kugler creates films
in the way that Kendrick Lamar creates music.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I'll do you one better. Ryan Cooler created a film
and Kendrick Lamar created the music for the film. It's
called Black Panther.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yeah, you should check it out, right, You're right, So, okay,
I love that, But you know where I was going
with that For folks that aren't familiar. You know, Q
and I we've had lots of conversations about Compton Kendrick
and you know, there's there's rapping and then there's what
Kendrick does and it's very complicated and there's always something
new to discover. And I think that you can find
(27:50):
that same type of rewatchability, revisitability, if you will, with
Ryan Kugler's films, where you go back and you're like
all these neat little gems and then you have fun
to discussing it. So really excited about that. But that's
it for us. That's our time. So thank you for
tuning in to us here on the QR Code. I've
(28:11):
been your host, Ramsey's job.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
He is always Ramsy's job. I try to always be
q Ward. You know, some days I ain't up to it. Yeah,
you know, but we make up the Q and the
R of the QR Code. Be sure to follow us
on all social media. You can find me on all platforms.
Again at Ramsey's job, I am q Ward on all
social media as well, and if you would like to
download this episode, you can do that. You can also
(28:34):
download some of our other content. Just check us out
search Civic Cipher that C I B I C c
I P h e R.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Be sure to check us out tomorrow because we will
be back doing it for you one more again, and
make sure you tell your friends about us. Please that too, please,
But yeah, check us out tomorrow. We're doing it again
and hopefully we'll have some more fun. And until then,
y'all peace, peace,
Still broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. This is the
QR code where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes.
I am Rams's job. I am Qward and in this
half of the show, we want you to stick around
because we got more to share with you. First up,
we are going to be hearing from Qward, or specifically
Qward's clapback. He mentioned something about a cross section of
(00:24):
people that need to get clapped at, and so I
won't go any more detail because we had some fun
with that earlier. See you laughing over there, but trust me,
we're gonna have something over that. We're also gonna be
talking about the judge that was arrested for kind of
standing up for, you know, immigrants that were being chased
down by ice, and we think that's a story that
is worth sharing with everyone. We're also gonna take a
(00:48):
little bit of time to discuss Ryan Coogler and the
film Centers. It's just a fantastic cultural moment and for
those that are not familiar with that, hopefully we can
give you some some motivation to check that out. But
for now, it is time for two words clap back.
What you got for us?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So very interesting that we're going to be talking about
Centers here in a minute, because I've noticed a trend
on social media over the last week as Centers is
being just critically acclaimed, not just critically acclaimed, but ringing
it up at the box office as well. I think
it had the lowest drop off from opening week in
(01:28):
the history of cinema, a less than ten percent drop
off from opening week, and the movie's made close to
two hundred million dollars already as we as we get
further into its release, I was able to see it
on Imax, which it was shot in Imax cameras. There's
a Marvel movie coming up or coming out this week,
(01:49):
and I believe or coming out soon that's going to
push it out of my out of Imax. But the
movie has been so successful some theaters have decided that
the Marvel movie gonna have to wait because Centers is
doing its thing. But the thing that I've noticed that
it's so disheartening, and it's us. I guess, our people.
Our contrarianism is just growing by the day, and I'm
(02:11):
seeing Black people go out of their way to talk
about how mid or average or not that great. This
movie is and I know it's not because they don't
think it's great. I think some of them haven't even
seen it. It's just that, well, everybody's saying it's great.
So the way that I can flex and get some
likes and some attention and look like the smart guy
(02:31):
in the room is if I just take the contrarian position.
And that's become the case not just with sinners, but
with the shape of the Earth that the flat earthers
haven't done any scientific research to prove their point. It's
just a bold contrarian position to take to declare yourself freethinking.
But the then diagram is what has become so interesting
(02:55):
to me because the most recent time I saw somebody
declare Centers a mid movie that wasn't all that great,
funny the movie they compared it to that that it
You know, people are acting like this movie is the
Godfather or something. Well, how come the Godfather gets to
be the greatest movie ever? Is it because it was old?
Or is it because the director and the protagonists and
(03:16):
all the characters don't look like you? And you can
accept that something made by us, that looks like us,
that's made for us could be the best. So I
start scrolling backwards and I noticed a very interesting cross section.
What you're going to say, Please, I'd love to hear
where you think. I'm going.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Okay, and I don't want to jump in front of you,
and far be it for me to stay another man's brief.
But how about this, because you're talking about contrary and
now I do a lot of work with you. But
I bet you're going to say that the person that
has an issue with Sinners is the same person that
took an issue with Kendrick. Is the same person that
at Kendrick had the Super Bowls. The same person that
(03:54):
took an issue with Kamala Harris when she was running
for president is the same person that we find that
these different points in society when you know we're having
a cultural moment and they are like continually the dissenters.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
There's a scary thing that happens when you work with
someone so closely for this long that it is that
they read your mind. But it's not a singular person.
It's people. It's all of the people. I'm going to say,
all of those things that you just said are the
same person. Right, Kamala's messaging wasn't good enough apologizing for
Maga Kendrick. Wasn't that good? Drake won the battle? The
(04:28):
earth is flat. It's like, wow, this super Bowl performance
was the worst I'd ever seen. Sinners isn't that good
of a movie. It's it's like contrarian and anti us,
and it sucks because it's us, all the people that
we just named, it's black people, young black people.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Let me.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I want to I want to add something here, this experience.
I think it's important that this is that we're sharing
this right now because this is something that I don't
I don't experience this when I'm on social media. I'm
on social media for a very different reason. And you
are just a popular person in general, like everybody wants
(05:10):
to be your friend. I know you're like magical dude.
And I go on social media and I think I'm
in a group chat with you and like my family,
and so you have like more I guess, more interactions
with people, and I think that you're more of like
the lightning rod when it comes to our programming.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Which is an interesting thing that happens. I don't really
interact with people at all. I just read a lot
of stories, like if somebody followed us or me on
social media, I am q Ward on all socials. They'll
notice you've posted three times in the last year, six
times in the last two years, nine times in the
last three years. I don't post a lot. I share
a lot of stories, though, Okay, so I'm unfortunately, because
(05:50):
of what we do, very very tuned into what's going
on in the world and what's going on in this country.
That does not always just involve politics, which we cover,
you know, very very often, but you know, popular culture
in general, music and you know, civic engagement and entertainment
and sports are also topics that come across our desk
(06:12):
and that come through my feed, and you know, the
algorithm understands that those are things that I'm interested in,
so I see them all the time. I see those stories,
I share those stories. I don't do a lot of
interacting with those people. I would drive myself crazy messaging
that person back that said this movie that I've now
seen twice wasn't that good. But you're observing. But I'm
observing the behavior. And like I said, I as soon
(06:33):
as I read it, I felt it. Let me scroll back.
Like I scrolled back, I didn't scroll back to do
research or to investigate. I knew I would find what
I was looking for. I knew I just had to
scroll far enough. And luckily Kendrick's on tour right now.
So the same people that are saying centers aren't that good,
or the same people saying that all those fifty thousand
(06:53):
people that are at that show are bots, it's the
same people, or that they used AI when we were
going to the least during the during the campaign, that
they used AI to make those places look for We're like, no,
we're here, it's not AI. It's these are people, you know,
and and that's and those type of people will will
move the gold posts and they can't just be wrong
and they can't just be contrarian for contrarian's sake, so
(07:16):
they end up spiraling down these rabbit holes of conspiracy
theory and nonsense. And let me ask you something.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Please, do you because I've heard you mentioned a couple
of times that it's us meaning like black people. Yes,
do you think it could be Russian bots? Because I
looked into that and those things are so sophisticated.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
No, because I'm not just talking about profile list accounts.
I'm talking about personalities, like I'm looking at videos of
black people, some of them famous, talking like it's actual
opinions from actual.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
People, and it's just to get on people's nerves. The
one thing that I think people they don't.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Assume that it's just to get on people's ned I
think they believe themselves, but I know the reason they
arrived at where they are is contrarian with no foundation.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Well, thank you for that. Clapback forward, Tom anymore. All right, now,
let's have some dialogue. Let's talk about the judge that
was arrested for standing up for immigrants. Now, for those
that are not familiar with the story, I'm gonna pay
a little bit of pictures. This comes from the La Times.
(08:16):
The flurry of immigration enforcement at courthouses around the country
in the last month, already heavily criticized by judicial officials
and lawyers, has renewed a legal bottle from President Trump's
first term, as advocates feer people might avoid coming to court.
It's drawing further attention with last Friday's arrest of judge
Hannah Dugan in Wisconsin. The FBI arrested Dugan on suspicion
(08:37):
that she taught she tried sorry to help a defendant
evade waiting federal agents by letting him leave her courtroom
through a jury door.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Some of these judges think they are beyond and above
the law, and they are not. And we're sending a
very strong message today, Attorney General Pam Bondi said during
an appearance on Fox News after the arrest. So I
guess I'll share some thoughts before you kind of jump
in here. But I kind of thought that judges were
(09:12):
the people that interpreted the law. So I don't know
that it's as much a matter of judges thinking that
they're above the law. But you know, judges have their place.
But here's something that I found recently. There's half of
the country that is turning a blind eye to this
(09:33):
sort of thing, right and the reason. And I wish
I had the article because the article could say it
better than I'm about to say it. But and of
course there's no like hard numbers to go with this.
But if you hear me, I think that you'll feel
the truth in this statement. And if not, if you're listening,
you know, please feel free to disagree. You can find
me on all social media at Rams's job. But the
(09:58):
people that voted for Donald Trump second time or a
third time, those triple Trumpers. Right, These people do not
care about law and order if it does not if
it prevents them from getting or forgets prevents us from
(10:22):
getting to the version of the country that they want.
They don't care that Donald Trump is not a normal politician.
They don't care that he does some evil things. They
don't care that Republicans do some things that objectively would
would would be considered evil. They think that Jesus Christ
(10:45):
would be in line at a polling station in front
of the klu klux klansmen and behind the Nazi standing
in line to all collectively go vote for Donald Trump. Right,
This is the reality for them. They don't care that
that Trump is breaking rules and cutting through that doesn't.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
We can we can we say breaking laws?
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Breaking laws?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
That's breaking rules sound so benign and not serious.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Thank you for coming break your laws, right, But they
love the fact that that now that they feel like
he's above the law, that he is the law. That's
probably the best way to say it. And so there's
half of the country that will look at this and say, yeah,
of course, arrest the judge ice is there to do
what they're you know, what I mean, and while we
(11:32):
are this is kind of these are like the embers
that kind of start sort of civil war stuff. Man.
And I don't think that. I think that maybe like
half of the country doesn't realize that the rules are
for all of us all the time, that that that
this this country was framed in such a way that
(11:56):
it could thrive in perpetuity because this country had learned
from the societies before it and how those societies had collapsed.
And we're at four hundred or so years into this
American experiment. And I think that people think that while
they're up right now, those on the right, in particular
(12:17):
far right I'll say far right, while they're up right now,
for them to turn a blind eye to the constitution
and the framework of this society, I think that's shooting
themselves in the foot. We are not old enough to
just swing in one direction and have it be all good.
There are countries that are a lot older than the
United States. China is bragging right now that they are
(12:39):
not sitting down at a negotiating table with Donald Trump
to negotiate the terroriffts they're bragging, they're like China's been
here for five thousand years will be fine. That's really
what they're on right. So for the people that look
at this like, oh, this is fine. They're arresting judges. Now, No,
this is crazy. This should not be happening. And there
(13:00):
were a lot of steps that people turned to blind
eye to before we got to this point. At no
point should this happen this, this should have been litigated
long before, and indeed it was. But what we're seeing
is a regime effectively ignoring lawful orders from the courts
of the land. And it's been politics as usual until today.
(13:25):
And if there are people that rise up against this,
it's not we the people, it's really just one half
of the country, because the other half is looking at
us like, yeah, we're finally getting our country back. Trump's in,
They're finally getting rid of all these illegals, and no,
Trump is putting on a show. And yes, there are
some people who are not technically here legally yet, but
(13:47):
if you're deporting you know, one hundred thousand people, and
seven hundred and fifty thousand of them have never committed
a crime, then they're not illegal criminals. If you're deporting
people just.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Seventy five thousand, I think you mean five thousand.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
That's what I meant to that. Yeah, and and and
again these numbers, I want to make sure that I
stated as clearly as I can these numbers. I haven't
yet to verify them, but they come from trusted sources.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
So we we tend to try not to get bogged
down with semantics. And it's not to be inaccurate, it's
to we're making a point that whether or not the numbers,
it's not specific to the to the numbers, the exact number.
And I also don't want us to veer into illegals.
They're deporting citizens. Yeah, that too, I was getting there,
(14:33):
Like let's let's let's I mean, let's cut across the
grass though, like because they can try to soundly make
an argument that illegal should be deported either way, the
way that they're doing it is illegal. And how dare
this judge want there to be due process before you
just arrest, attain and deport someone? Like, how dare a
judge think that you should follow the law? Oh my god? Right,
(14:55):
So they're the they're the party of law and order
until it comes time for them to break the law.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Said it best right there.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Until it comes time for them to break the law.
We need to say it with those words. Though. They're
the party of law and order and back the Blue
and all that nonsense until it's time for them to
break the law, and then they're anti American, anti law enforcement,
anti due process, anti constitution, and anti judge.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
That's when they start looking at the same judge.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
The back to blue all lives matter people are the
same get out of my country, go to some prison
in a foreign country with no due process, arrest judges.
The same people that were anti defund the police became
defund the FBI when it wasn't in their best interest
to let us break the law whenever we feel like it,
(15:44):
because we're right and it's our country and it's only
our country.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
You go.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
So it is a really, really disgusting time. And you
said the words civil war. Once upon a time that
could happen. The United States military is the muscle of
the President of the United States. We can't start a
civil war against them, like they can't happen anymore. It's
(16:10):
no longer a possibility. You know, we can march in
the streets. But if every American with every gun they
had took to arms against the United States military be
a very short fight. So the idea of civil war
is no longer a realistic idea. I don't know what
we're supposed to do now, you guys, let Donald Trump
become the president again, and he told you he was
(16:30):
going to do everything that he's doing, or I'm sorry
they published everything that he was going to do, and
then he threw up his hands and say, hey, I
don't know what that is. I mean, of course, all
those people that wrote for me and were appointed by me,
but ha, come see, kumsah, why would you think that
that had anything to do with me? Until day one? Okay,
(16:51):
let's run it. And now we are watching the entire
world become a far less safe place because of what
we allowed to happen here in November. It is a
really disgusting and dangerous and scary place for us to be,
and most of us, I'm certain still don't realize that yet. Yeah,
(17:12):
because there's a lot of going on about our day,
like we always have happening, And I'm looking around sometimes like,
am I the only one that's reading all of this stuff?
Am I the only person that realizes all of this
is happening?
Speaker 1 (17:25):
There's a stunning silence across the land. But you know
one person that is still active, or was still active
until she was arrested. It was Judge Hannah Dugan in Wisconsin.
She did what was in her power, what she felt
was right. And you know, that is the sort of
(17:46):
thing that you're supposed to do. You're supposed to resist.
This country was birthed from resistance, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
You guys may have read about the Boston tea party. Yeah,
that happened because of tariffs on tea.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Just that all right, Well, for the last segment, we're
gonna shift over to some entertainment news. Ryan Coogler. He's
having a heck of a run. You know, his his
one of his partners, I'll say, uh, Chadwick Boseman passed away.
(18:22):
And that was you know, for those that are listening
that aren't black, I'm sure you know, because you wouldn't
be listening to us if you didn't know. But you
you probably know that that was a loss that we
all felt. Black black people across the board, we felt
that that felt special. He was kind of our superhero.
(18:44):
And you know, there's a couple of times when I cried.
I cried for Nipsey hustle, you know I did. I'm
from Compton, so that was you know, you know, southern California,
that lifestyle. That just felt like we shouldn't have lost him.
And you know Chadwick, that was another one where it's like,
(19:06):
you know, Kobe, you know, Kobe was another one where
it's like, that doesn't feel great to lose someone that
you looked up to. And so for Ryan Coogler to
then take take that moment, turn it into Black Panther two,
you know, pay homage to UH, to Chadwick, and continue
(19:29):
to honor him, but also continue to showcase his excellence.
I think that this is all of these things culminate
in this moment. Add to it that the movie centers
it has some sort of special deal with the movie
studio where the rights to the movie revert back to him.
(19:51):
And then I've also heard that there's going to be
a cinematic universe for Sinners too, And so this feels special.
This feels on par with like the Tyler Perry's and
like the building of an empire, which it doesn't happen
very often for us, and so we love the idea
of celebrating this. So when I share this I want
you to understand that this part of the show, we're
(20:14):
sharing it in that context. Okay, all right, So I'm
gonna share from Variety this year the Oscar season. Prayer
has a name and its Sinners. With Sinners, writer director
Ryan Kugler, one of Hollywood's most quietly seismic forces, steps
into a genre long neglected by the Academy and once
again reshapes the game. A slow burned psychological horror film,
(20:35):
Sinners is not just a pivot for Kugler. Rather, it's
a proclamation. For more than a decade, Kugler has been
Hollywood's quiet revolutionary symbolizing for the black community, a figure
akin to our very own Christopher Nolan. From chronicling the
final hours of Oscar Grant's life in Fruitvale Station, to
reviving the Rocky franchise with Creed, to breaking barriers with
(20:55):
the cultural juggernaut Black Panther, Kugler fuses personal and political
story telling with mass appeal. Like a few others, Now
I want to share something. This is in his own words,
and this is just him talking about Chadwick again for
folks that aren't familiar to just bringing you up to speed.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
But if I hadn't gotten started when I did and
graduated film score at twenty four and Mary Fruville at
twenty five and make Creed and Black Panther around time
being thirty. All these things were like Domino's for me.
(21:32):
And if I hadn't gotten that start, I never would
have met Chad Who's time with Solemnity.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
So yeah, that was him getting emotional there. But it
gives you an idea of one of the things that
I'll say. I'll just go ahead and say it. I
love the fact that he is authentically himself, right, he
has not had to dress it up anymore. And we're
talking about the way that he talks. He's from the
(22:00):
Bay Area and that's who he is. Oaktown, Oaktown, right.
For a lot of people to hear him speak, I
think that there's this idea, and it's across the board
(22:21):
of all races, of all walks of life, all socioeconomic backgrounds,
there's this idea I'm sure that exists that when you
hear him speak, you would not imagine that he's capable
of the complex.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Brilliant.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
H execution of storytelling, of creating a creating a series
of films.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Who wouldn't imagine, well, a lot of Detroit Mission, a
lot of people right from Compton, California. No, No, I know,
I know, absolutely imagine that that brother is from the Bay,
from east here, from our cousins. Now.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
But the point I'm making, the point I'm making capable
of complex, brilliant Flip this table over, I got you,
I got you, I got you. Hear me out, hear
me out, watch this. So there's a lot of people
that might hear him talking. There's a lot of people
that will hear me and you talking just how we
talk and feel like, oh, I need to stay away
from those guys, and would not imagine that we are
(23:20):
syndicated on one hundred and fifty radio stations across the
country and the words that we share with each other
actually that, you know, our part and parcel to the
empire that we've managed to build somehow. And so this
is why I really wanted to have him speak in
his own voice, uh and kind of share a little
(23:40):
bit of insight into who this person is, because I
think that for this part of the story, at least,
the one thing that I wanted to share with people
is that you never know what you're condemning. You never
know what you're fearing. You never know what you're you know,
trying to get away from. You never know what you're suppressing.
You never know what you're discriminating. Again, and how capable
(24:01):
and how brilliant the mind might be. You know things
that things like like accents, A lot of times those
are regional, they're cultural, and in no way reflects a
person's cognitive abilities. This is a lesson I learned a
long time ago because I said something in a conversation
once to a woman. This is an older white woman.
(24:23):
I was a teenager when I said it, but I
was talking about a person who had like kind of
a thick like country accent, right, And I was like,
oh man, they talk like they're stupid, they talk like
they're unintelligent. I said this right that I was a child, okay,
And she said, no, Ramses, they're not unintelligent, they're just Southern.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And she said it just like that, and it.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Was just like a switch, right. And so I'm trying
to help create that moment for people that may not
be familiar with you know who Ryan Coogler is now
as far as the film. You've seen the film, so
you know, talk to us a little bit about the film.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I've seen the film twice, and I don't like talking
about it because I like for people to be as
surprised by the rich cultural weaving that he does with
the storytelling in the visuals, Like it's a tapestry, man.
(25:22):
It is a rich tapestry, and it's so colorful, it's
so cinematic, and it's so black. It's based in the
Mississippi Delta during the sharecropping of the nineteen twenties and thirties.
It's a really really powerful thing going on where these
brothers from Chicago come back home to Mississippi and just
and tap back into their roots and where they're from,
(25:43):
and their reputation precedes them. But you know, a black
original ip horror. I don't even want to say the
next work. Some people might know and I want them
to be shocked. So I'm just gonna bite my tongue
on that one. It catches you off Guarden the best ways.
It's so created, it's so different, it's so brilliant, and
(26:04):
what Cougler has been able to do because he's had
so much success, He's done over two billion dollars at
the box office already. I think he's thirty something years
old and he was able to negotiate that deal that
you mentioned were and I think twenty years or twenty
five years, the rights and the masters come back to
him and his which doesn't happen. And he wouldn't have
(26:24):
been able to do that on prior stories because he's
telling someone else's stories IP that already exists with Marvel,
a story that already happened with Fruitville, an actual bio story,
and create so with Creed from the Rockies, you know universe,
this being his original IP. He not only negotiated to
get his the rights and the master's back, but first
(26:46):
dollar gross, which never happens. From the very first dollar
the movie makes. He gets his percentage, not after the
studio makes their money back, not after marketing costs, the
front run up front, from the first dollar made.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
I need mine right now in the mighty name. All right,
let me ask you something. I think you're gonna love
this question. Do you think that Ryan Kugler creates films
in the way that Kendrick Lamar creates music.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I'll do you one better. Ryan Cooler created a film
and Kendrick Lamar created the music for the film. It's
called Black Panther.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yeah, you should check it out, right, You're right, So, okay,
I love that, But you know where I was going
with that For folks that aren't familiar. You know, Q
and I we've had lots of conversations about Compton Kendrick
and you know, there's there's rapping and then there's what
Kendrick does and it's very complicated and there's always something
new to discover. And I think that you can find
(27:50):
that same type of rewatchability, revisitability, if you will, with
Ryan Kugler's films, where you go back and you're like
all these neat little gems and then you have fun
to discussing it. So really excited about that. But that's
it for us. That's our time. So thank you for
tuning in to us here on the QR Code. I've
(28:11):
been your host, Ramsey's job.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
He is always Ramsy's job. I try to always be
q Ward. You know, some days I ain't up to it. Yeah,
you know, but we make up the Q and the
R of the QR Code. Be sure to follow us
on all social media. You can find me on all platforms.
Again at Ramsey's job, I am q Ward on all
social media as well, and if you would like to
download this episode, you can do that. You can also
(28:34):
download some of our other content. Just check us out
search Civic Cipher that C I B I C c
I P h e R.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Be sure to check us out tomorrow because we will
be back doing it for you one more again, and
make sure you tell your friends about us. Please that too, please,
But yeah, check us out tomorrow. We're doing it again
and hopefully we'll have some more fun. And until then,
y'all peace, peace,
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