January 4, 2026 • 29 mins
On today's podcast, Hosts Ramses J and Q Ward review the biggest moments and stories of 2025.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. Welcome to the QR Code,
where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. The
man you are about to hear from is a man
who admittedly has had a rough year, but he is
looking forward to a brighter twenty twenty six, especially with
the midterms. He is a Q in QR code. He
goes by the name of q Ward.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
The voice you just heard is the captain of our ship,
and I guess sometimes optimism for both of us because
I don't see a brighter anything. I don't have any
data to support that, so but I will follow my
brother's lead. He is the RN QR code. He goes
by the name Ramses Joh.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
We're going to get there, and hopefully you're going to
get there with us. So we need you to stay
tuned because we are going to take a look back,
this being our last show of the year, and kind
of reflect on some of the notable things that took
place in twenty twenty five. A little later on the show,
we're going to share some reflections on, you know, stories
(01:05):
that we've covered. We're going to spend a little time
talking about entertainment news specifically, but we're also going to
talk about just the plethora of news that we've had
to read and regurgitate this year. It's been a tough year,
but you know, this is a year that we all
(01:28):
can learn from, and so we're going to look at
it like that. We're going to take a moment to
reflect on the life of Assada Shakur, who we sadly
lost in twenty twenty five. She's a great revolutionary. For
those who don't know, please stick around. You're bound to
learn more. We're going to talk about a handful of
shameful moments, especially shameful moments from twenty twenty five. We're
(01:48):
going to talk about guests that we've had on the show.
We've done a lot of growing through those guests and
been able to see the world through their lenses. We're
going to talk about some events that we were able
to participate in on the ground in twenty twenty five
as well. So stay tuned. A full recap in store
for you. But right now, we're going to start off
feeling good, because we think that's important as we reflect. First,
(02:12):
we want to talk about, well, I guess in a
general sense, we want to talk about the Democratic Socialist
victories in the twenty twenty five elections. Democratic Socialists swept
all the elections in which they were participating, or elections
in which there was a candidate supported by Democratic Socialists
(02:36):
of America. For a lot of people that feel like
this administration is hostile toward them and their family and
their well being and their equitable chances at an equitable America,
and also feel like maybe Democrats might not have done
enough to really see them and center them. Democratic Socialists
(02:59):
have certainly merged and their victories have shown some promise.
So quickly we want to shout out zorn Mom, Donnie
of course, who famously won mayor of New York, Katie
Wilson in Washington, Jake e FROs and Joel Brooks, they're
considered DSA a line they won in New Jersey, Soren
(03:19):
Stevenson and Robin Wansley in Minnesota, and Danny Noel in
North Carolina. All these folks won their elections, and I
believe there are others. These are just the ones that
we were able to fit into today's show, just to
make sure that you know, folks continue to look forward
(03:42):
to what is to come. There are people that are
recognizing that nothing has worked for them so far, and
their willingness to not fall victim to the fearmongering associated
with the word socialism has certainly suggested that, you know,
(04:02):
people are considering the options that they have now and
leaning into some of the more let's say, liberal, progressive
options that are available to them. So twenty twenty five
was a year that you know, Q and I we
(04:24):
had our work cut out for us. The beginning of
this year, we started off reeling from a gut punch.
I will say that I seriously thought that Kamala Harris
would have won the president the presidential election in twenty
(04:45):
twenty four. I thought that this country had learned its
lesson from Donald Trump. I thought that everybody got what
they wanted. You know, there's going to be no more
Joe Biden, there's no more Donald Trump. There's going to
finally be a woman leading this country. Everything just seemed
(05:06):
to work. I was at the rallies for Kamala Harris.
I was able to follow the stories and the polls
and everything like that. And it didn't happen again. And
there's a lot of speculation as to why, but the
fact is is that it didn't happen, and that sort
(05:27):
of set off this path that we're on now. You know,
we had to adjust our strategy. How are we going
to be effective in our roles as broadcasters and as journalists.
And if I'm begrudgingly admitting it as maybe thought leaders
(05:48):
leaders in general in this space, this is not something
that I'll speak for both of us, but please correct
me if I'm wrong. It's not something that we thought
that we would end up doing as being like leaders
of men. We just felt like, hey, you know what,
if we take a little bit of this radio time
and let the leaders come up and share the whyse,
(06:11):
then maybe they can have a little bit more in
the way of representation insofar as media is concerned, as
opposed to letting, you know, people that have misinformation or
inaccurate information or being intentionally misleading chronicle the narratives around
this leadership on the streets. But as it turns out,
(06:32):
over the years, Q and I have sort of emerged
as again thought leaders, if nothing else, in this space,
and that's not what we intended to do. I don't
think either one of us would put ourselves out there
in that role. But you know, we've heard it enough
times and we've now had to live in that reality.
You know, here we are this year. One of those
(06:56):
moments that reminded us of exactly sort of who we are,
how much we matter, is the National Urban League National
Convention that took place between July seventeenth and July twentieth
in Cleveland, And you know, as they tend to do,
(07:18):
they reached out and got in contact with our management
and our people and you know, asked us to participate
once again. But again, I wasn't the only person. Q
wasn't the only person reeling from that election. Everyone was,
and so everyone was looking for leadership. And granted, there
(07:39):
were a lot of great minds in the room, a
lot of great thinkers, a lot of people that have
a lot more strategy, been working in this space a
lot longer than we have, but as it turns out,
people were looking to us to get our thoughts as well.
And you know, it's really good to get around like
minded people to get re energized and if nothing else,
(08:01):
to be reminded that you know, we're not crazy, that
this is abnormal, and we should be upset and pushing
back against this, and we should be continuing to affirm
that our lives have value, our lives matter, our history matters,
and human decency matters. And so getting in a room
(08:22):
with like minded people at the National Urban League National
convention in Cleveland really did matter. Q, you want to
share any thoughts about that one before we move to
the next one.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
I think we've expressed it before, the need to get
in spaces like that.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, that came from you.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
If you work in the media, more specifically, if you
work in radio where millions of people hear your voice,
but you only hear yours or in our case, each other's,
and it can some times feel like we're in a
silo kind of doing this work by ourselves and kind
(09:05):
of hoping against hope that the message is reaching someone.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
So to the National Urban League, to cod Black Missus,
Q Brown.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Really made sure that we were positioned well that we
got to have conversations that we needed to have. Mark
Morireal treating us like family every time he sees us,
and just the entire National Urban League team wrapping their
arms around us, making us feel very much a part
of their community.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
It's necessary.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I don't know that I make it to today if
I didn't have a chance to stop and get gas
and stop and fill up my tank at the National
Urban League National convention. So yeah, and in Cleveland, Ohio,
of all places. You know, I went to college in Ohio.
A lot of close friends from college are from Cleveland,
(10:08):
Nick being a you know, a brother of ours, so
to be in his backyard, to see some people haven't
seen in twenty years, and.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
You know, really get poured into by people who.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Knew how I felt, even if they didn't, you know,
some people felt the same way. But even those that didn't,
they understood how I felt and able to have that dialogue,
that conversation and receive some energy, some information, some strategy
from people doing similar work or the same work or
(10:44):
working in adjacent space, I'd say that was necessary.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Yeah, And not too long after that, we were on
the ground in DC for the Congressional Black Caucus, another
event that we go to every year, but again this
year it hit a little different, just because a lot
of people are in a different headspace. And you know,
when I talk about us being in leaders in a
(11:14):
leadership capacity again, I'm acknowledging there are great leaders that
we look up to, but you know, Q and I
are men, and I mean that in like the most
romantic sense of the word, we are young men and
we are still very much in the warrior class, and
(11:37):
so our being on the ground there to be a
beacon to people who have lost a lot of hope.
It mattered to them just as as much as it
mattered to us. This is what I feel, this is
what was communicated to me, and so, you know, making
(11:59):
sure that that my people don't lose faith, continuing in
the tradition of my ancestors, who have fought much harder fights,
you know, than I have, and have had to put
on a brave face many more times. Some of them
that probably was the last face they ever wore. But
you know, they didn't bow, they didn't break. You know,
(12:23):
we're grateful that we got a chance to go out
there too, and among all the travels that we do,
those kind of stood out as being very special. Last,
but not least, Q and I were on the ground
in the KPFK studios in Los Angeles the day after
(12:45):
Charlie Kirk's assassination, and so being on the air on
September eleventh, processing that trauma. It's very clear how I
feel politically, but that was a traumatic moment for me,
I have no problem restating that neither one of us
(13:07):
celebrated that loss of life. But it's just one of
those things where I will remember that I had to
process a lot of emotions in real time on the radio,
interacting with listeners live, some of whom disagree with me,
such as the nature of this you know this gig,
but you know some things that stood out of my mind.
(13:27):
Any closing thoughts, her.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Que kind of sadly leaving DC feeling unfulfilled and kind
of looking around like, wait, I thought we all came
here to get our marching orders, to hear the plan.
(13:50):
You said that, and just that lack of solidarity and
that lack of plan and next steps was really discouraging.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Yeah. Well, some of the great thinkers, authors, activists that
we look up to, some of the people that we
look to for the direction, know that Q famously refers to.
(14:25):
We've had a chance to have a good number of
breakout conversations with those folks in twenty twenty five. Uh,
And again, this is our reflections on this past year.
But I think it's important to impress upon you listening
to us that we never thought we would be here
(14:50):
doing this work again. Oh, I was given away CARDI
B tickets. That's what I That's what I did. Uh,
you know, and me and Q we talk about you know,
we were dealing with like kind of new music and
breaking breaking records on the radio, and you know, we
(15:11):
DJ nightclubs and you know, Q was very well regarded DJ,
you know, prior to us kind of moving in this direction.
So when I when I mentioned these names and how
in awe I am to be able to talk to
(15:33):
these great leaders. I mean that when we first started
doing this show, we did it because we thought it
was necessary to get community activists on the radio and
we needed to create a space for them. We never
thought that we would be the one sharing our message,
you know, and having to like learn how this journalistic
(15:54):
space works. Of course, we know radio like the back
of our hand. We've been doing radio forever, but have
to have long form conversations about things that really matter
and explaining and breaking down concepts was not something that
we thought we would end up doing. It's just this
show this Country showed us that there was an appetite
for this type of programming. And now we're doing this
(16:18):
and you're hearing our voices, And obviously the show has
grown beyond the boundaries and the types of interviews that
we were able to get over the course of you
know this that be now six years next year, in
twenty twenty six, that we've been doing this. It feels
(16:42):
like the culmination of maybe some sort of divine alignment
or divine effort. So when I mentioned these names, there's
a reverence that may or may not translate, but I
can assure you it means a great deal to me
to have been able to even have conversations with these
folks and share those conversations with you. So in twenty
(17:04):
twenty five, one of the guests that I remember Q
and I having a conversation about, you know, maybe one
day if we could have a conversation with him and
break down you know, you know, his thoughts from this
book that he wrote, or you know this social media
post that went viral of his or whatever. Is doctor
Ibram X KINDI just a fantastic orator and a great
(17:34):
a great mind. And to be able to share a
conversation with him and then have that be something that
I'm able to share with an audience that feels very special.
I want to just get through these names and then
you and I will kind of go back and share
some memories. But you know, we mentioned Mark Moreal from
(17:55):
the National Urban League and the president of the National
Urban but he's more than that and has been more
than that. He's another brilliant mind and a leader, and
he's one of those leaders that really does look forward.
He doesn't want to outgrow sort of the warrior class,
(18:21):
you know, with his leadership. He wants to make sure
that there's a robust warrior class there and that he
can you know, pass on the mantle. And he's just
been a great friend and someone that didn't need to
take time and invest, you know, time and energy into us,
but always has and always does. I want to make
(18:42):
sure that we shout out Joyanne Reid. She's another name
that you might know from MSNBC or from going viral
with all of her posts on social media. Just to
have a brown skin, short haired, black woman in the
(19:09):
position that she's in, unapologetically black, exceptionally politically sophisticated and fearless,
it's inspiring. And for someone who is as big a
name as the name that she has to appear on
our show, it might make sense to a lot of
(19:31):
you listening. But again to ramses to Q, we are
grateful that she would share her insight with us. You know,
it's people like her that kind of remind us that, hey,
you guys are doing the right thing. You guys created
something in a space that where it didn't exist. You
know a lot of people radio is it for them?
(19:52):
A lot of people will casually catch your show. And
you know podcasts you have to be in intentional about
finding a podcast, but they'll casually just come across part
of a conversation in boom. Now you have, you know,
new people listening, new people learning. You know, you're not
subjected to the algorithms and that sort of thing. You are,
(20:14):
you know, broadcasting and no one else had this, you know,
and you guys built it. Stacey Adams is another one.
She basically said the same thing to us again. Another
great political mind and political name to appear on the show.
Nicole Hannah Jones is another one. John Hope Brian is
a frequent guest on the show. But he is he's
(20:39):
a decidedly, unapologetically a black capitalist. But again, his conversations
are necessary because this is for better or worse capitalism
and we have to navigate these waters if we're going
to get to the waters that feel like they're a
little bit more appropriate for camaraderie and lifting all all boats.
(21:02):
Michael J. White, you know, made an appearance on the show.
Isaac caay is the third another social media phenomenon, of course,
the son of Isaac Hayes, the soul singer and the
founder and owner of fan Base, the social media app
that you know, we think is fair and doesn't deal
(21:29):
with algorithms and whatever. And you know, we post on consistently.
So if you don't have a fan Base account, be
sure to get one. But you know, all these names
are folks that we check out pretty consistently, and we
have a relationship. We have these people's phone numbers. We
can call, you know, I don't know, I pick a name,
(21:49):
doesn't matter, Ben Kromp if we want, you know whoever.
And so this progress and these names, this feels very
encouraging that we're doing something that's effective and we're providing
platforms for people that really are helping with the marching
orders when they have them. So I want to make
sure that you have some time to reflect too. Q.
(22:09):
But that's the picture.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I think the only word that I can come up
with is gratitude, Like some of these conversations that we
have and people who we didn't even get to name
that we've been able to interview and sit with and
talk to and share space with, because I don't mean
just like an in passing quick one too, and then
they're gone and we never speak. I mean sit down,
(22:37):
break bread, hang out, see each other in different cities,
and embrace and really get reminded that these are people
that care about us and that kind of hold us
in a certain regard. Gratitude is the only word that
comes to mind, because who are we right? People are
(22:57):
legitimately it's important to point out that they're leaders, but
it cannot be ignored that they're also celebrities. People would
pay money for their audience, people would pay money to
sit with them, to speak with them, to be able
to say on my platform, this person came to sit
(23:20):
with me those names that you said. It's still it's
not something that I've gotten used to. It's not something
that I take for granted. It's not like, yeah, oh yeah,
we had Joanne read On. It's like, can you believe
we had Joan read On? And then she invited us
on tour with her. So to everybody that allows us
(23:44):
to matter, because because people have to allow us to matter,
I just want to say thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah, there are still gatekeepers and this show and me
and Q have been welcomed in and hopefully we're doing
by everyone as promised. There were some shameful things that
took place in twenty twenty five, and I want to
(24:14):
make sure that we point out at least a few
of them. There was a lot, but we want to
point out at least a few of them because I
think that we are capable of that. Some of these things,
they don't really feel like they work in the best
(24:38):
interest of everyone, or even in the best interest of
anyone in some cases unless they have in my estimation,
the only thing that makes sense is it only makes
sense for them unless they have a racist agenda. So
(25:00):
for the many many people that say I'm not racist,
I just blink, or I'm not racist, whatever comes after that,
if any of these things don't cause you to feel
shamed on behalf of these organizations or entities that perform
these acts, then I invite you to really do a
(25:24):
deep dive on whether or not you might harbor racist sentiments,
because what I'm finding as I continue to walk this
path is that a lot of people don't know that
that's how they feel. They don't have a proper way
of envisioning other groups of people. They bring in too
many prejudices, so they cannot have an objective, critical examination
(25:48):
of them or themselves, and so they learn well after
the fact that yes, those indeed were racist thoughts or
ideas or whatever, and in the moment, they don't know
that that's what they're doing, and so they say things like, well,
I'm not racist, I got a black friend, you know,
stuff like that. So it's work, and a lot of
(26:11):
people don't want to do that work. They don't feel
like they need to, especially under this administration. But you know,
we will sure. So one of the things that stood
out from twenty twenty five, of course, was the All
American halftime show. Okay, for folks that don't remember, that
is a thing from Turning Point USA. They decided that
(26:38):
they were going to offer a halftime show to compete
with the Super BOWLS halftime show. After they booked Bad
Bunny to perform the halftime show. Now bear in mind,
just for some context, earlier this year, it was Kendrick
(26:59):
Lamar at the halftime show. And even though Kendrick Lamar was,
as you know, American, flagged out as a person can
be with all the red, white and blue, and he
didn't say anything that was critical or untrue of this
(27:20):
country in his halftime show, he certainly did, in my estimation,
with his black skin upset a lot of conservatives with
his rap music and you know, dancing on a flag
(27:42):
stage or with flag dancers on a stage or whatever.
They just took issue with that. So when Bad Bunny
comes to mind, these people are like, Okay, so we
need an American halftime show, ignoring the fact that Bad
Bunny is an American citizen, as Puerto Rico is a
part of America, and turning point USA trying to create
(28:06):
some alternative programming feels anti American. I think that Americans
should celebrate the fact that they own Puerto Rico for
all intents and purposes, you know what I mean. And
they're so deep in their conservativism, which is very very
close to racism, that they don't really realize that. Another
(28:32):
shameful moment is Donald Trump renaming the Kennedy Center after himself.
In this country, we have a history of honoring presidents
after they have passed away. Donald Trump, of course, is
not averse to breaking tradition. But I think that this
(28:52):
is a collective spit in the face of President Kennedy.
And there is a stunning silence out there now that
this has happened, and one that we will definitely talk
more about a little later on. Is the shameful thing
(29:13):
in this country was police and ICE agents covering their faces.
This is very much a twenty twenty five phenomenon that
has created an additional level of there's a lack, i
(29:35):
should say, of accountability, and there are abuses taking place
where people are not showing their faces and without accountability.
This feels like fascism in the United States of America,
and that is a scary thought. So stick around. We'll
(29:56):
be back with more after this
Broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. Welcome to the QR Code,
where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. The
man you are about to hear from is a man
who admittedly has had a rough year, but he is
looking forward to a brighter twenty twenty six, especially with
the midterms. He is a Q in QR code. He
goes by the name of q Ward.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
The voice you just heard is the captain of our ship,
and I guess sometimes optimism for both of us because
I don't see a brighter anything. I don't have any
data to support that, so but I will follow my
brother's lead. He is the RN QR code. He goes
by the name Ramses Joh.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
We're going to get there, and hopefully you're going to
get there with us. So we need you to stay
tuned because we are going to take a look back,
this being our last show of the year, and kind
of reflect on some of the notable things that took
place in twenty twenty five. A little later on the show,
we're going to share some reflections on, you know, stories
(01:05):
that we've covered. We're going to spend a little time
talking about entertainment news specifically, but we're also going to
talk about just the plethora of news that we've had
to read and regurgitate this year. It's been a tough year,
but you know, this is a year that we all
(01:28):
can learn from, and so we're going to look at
it like that. We're going to take a moment to
reflect on the life of Assada Shakur, who we sadly
lost in twenty twenty five. She's a great revolutionary. For
those who don't know, please stick around. You're bound to
learn more. We're going to talk about a handful of
shameful moments, especially shameful moments from twenty twenty five. We're
(01:48):
going to talk about guests that we've had on the show.
We've done a lot of growing through those guests and
been able to see the world through their lenses. We're
going to talk about some events that we were able
to participate in on the ground in twenty twenty five
as well. So stay tuned. A full recap in store
for you. But right now, we're going to start off
feeling good, because we think that's important as we reflect. First,
(02:12):
we want to talk about, well, I guess in a
general sense, we want to talk about the Democratic Socialist
victories in the twenty twenty five elections. Democratic Socialists swept
all the elections in which they were participating, or elections
in which there was a candidate supported by Democratic Socialists
(02:36):
of America. For a lot of people that feel like
this administration is hostile toward them and their family and
their well being and their equitable chances at an equitable America,
and also feel like maybe Democrats might not have done
enough to really see them and center them. Democratic Socialists
(02:59):
have certainly merged and their victories have shown some promise.
So quickly we want to shout out zorn Mom, Donnie
of course, who famously won mayor of New York, Katie
Wilson in Washington, Jake e FROs and Joel Brooks, they're
considered DSA a line they won in New Jersey, Soren
(03:19):
Stevenson and Robin Wansley in Minnesota, and Danny Noel in
North Carolina. All these folks won their elections, and I
believe there are others. These are just the ones that
we were able to fit into today's show, just to
make sure that you know, folks continue to look forward
(03:42):
to what is to come. There are people that are
recognizing that nothing has worked for them so far, and
their willingness to not fall victim to the fearmongering associated
with the word socialism has certainly suggested that, you know,
(04:02):
people are considering the options that they have now and
leaning into some of the more let's say, liberal, progressive
options that are available to them. So twenty twenty five
was a year that you know, Q and I we
(04:24):
had our work cut out for us. The beginning of
this year, we started off reeling from a gut punch.
I will say that I seriously thought that Kamala Harris
would have won the president the presidential election in twenty
(04:45):
twenty four. I thought that this country had learned its
lesson from Donald Trump. I thought that everybody got what
they wanted. You know, there's going to be no more
Joe Biden, there's no more Donald Trump. There's going to
finally be a woman leading this country. Everything just seemed
(05:06):
to work. I was at the rallies for Kamala Harris.
I was able to follow the stories and the polls
and everything like that. And it didn't happen again. And
there's a lot of speculation as to why, but the
fact is is that it didn't happen, and that sort
(05:27):
of set off this path that we're on now. You know,
we had to adjust our strategy. How are we going
to be effective in our roles as broadcasters and as journalists.
And if I'm begrudgingly admitting it as maybe thought leaders
(05:48):
leaders in general in this space, this is not something
that I'll speak for both of us, but please correct
me if I'm wrong. It's not something that we thought
that we would end up doing as being like leaders
of men. We just felt like, hey, you know what,
if we take a little bit of this radio time
and let the leaders come up and share the whyse,
(06:11):
then maybe they can have a little bit more in
the way of representation insofar as media is concerned, as
opposed to letting, you know, people that have misinformation or
inaccurate information or being intentionally misleading chronicle the narratives around
this leadership on the streets. But as it turns out,
(06:32):
over the years, Q and I have sort of emerged
as again thought leaders, if nothing else, in this space,
and that's not what we intended to do. I don't
think either one of us would put ourselves out there
in that role. But you know, we've heard it enough
times and we've now had to live in that reality.
You know, here we are this year. One of those
(06:56):
moments that reminded us of exactly sort of who we are,
how much we matter, is the National Urban League National
Convention that took place between July seventeenth and July twentieth
in Cleveland, And you know, as they tend to do,
(07:18):
they reached out and got in contact with our management
and our people and you know, asked us to participate
once again. But again, I wasn't the only person. Q
wasn't the only person reeling from that election. Everyone was,
and so everyone was looking for leadership. And granted, there
(07:39):
were a lot of great minds in the room, a
lot of great thinkers, a lot of people that have
a lot more strategy, been working in this space a
lot longer than we have, but as it turns out,
people were looking to us to get our thoughts as well.
And you know, it's really good to get around like
minded people to get re energized and if nothing else,
(08:01):
to be reminded that you know, we're not crazy, that
this is abnormal, and we should be upset and pushing
back against this, and we should be continuing to affirm
that our lives have value, our lives matter, our history matters,
and human decency matters. And so getting in a room
(08:22):
with like minded people at the National Urban League National
convention in Cleveland really did matter. Q, you want to
share any thoughts about that one before we move to
the next one.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
I think we've expressed it before, the need to get
in spaces like that.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, that came from you.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
If you work in the media, more specifically, if you
work in radio where millions of people hear your voice,
but you only hear yours or in our case, each other's,
and it can some times feel like we're in a
silo kind of doing this work by ourselves and kind
(09:05):
of hoping against hope that the message is reaching someone.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
So to the National Urban League, to cod Black Missus,
Q Brown.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Really made sure that we were positioned well that we
got to have conversations that we needed to have. Mark
Morireal treating us like family every time he sees us,
and just the entire National Urban League team wrapping their
arms around us, making us feel very much a part
of their community.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
It's necessary.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I don't know that I make it to today if
I didn't have a chance to stop and get gas
and stop and fill up my tank at the National
Urban League National convention. So yeah, and in Cleveland, Ohio,
of all places. You know, I went to college in Ohio.
A lot of close friends from college are from Cleveland,
(10:08):
Nick being a you know, a brother of ours, so
to be in his backyard, to see some people haven't
seen in twenty years, and.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
You know, really get poured into by people who.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Knew how I felt, even if they didn't, you know,
some people felt the same way. But even those that didn't,
they understood how I felt and able to have that dialogue,
that conversation and receive some energy, some information, some strategy
from people doing similar work or the same work or
(10:44):
working in adjacent space, I'd say that was necessary.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Yeah, And not too long after that, we were on
the ground in DC for the Congressional Black Caucus, another
event that we go to every year, but again this
year it hit a little different, just because a lot
of people are in a different headspace. And you know,
when I talk about us being in leaders in a
(11:14):
leadership capacity again, I'm acknowledging there are great leaders that
we look up to, but you know, Q and I
are men, and I mean that in like the most
romantic sense of the word, we are young men and
we are still very much in the warrior class, and
(11:37):
so our being on the ground there to be a
beacon to people who have lost a lot of hope.
It mattered to them just as as much as it
mattered to us. This is what I feel, this is
what was communicated to me, and so, you know, making
(11:59):
sure that that my people don't lose faith, continuing in
the tradition of my ancestors, who have fought much harder fights,
you know, than I have, and have had to put
on a brave face many more times. Some of them
that probably was the last face they ever wore. But
you know, they didn't bow, they didn't break. You know,
(12:23):
we're grateful that we got a chance to go out
there too, and among all the travels that we do,
those kind of stood out as being very special. Last,
but not least, Q and I were on the ground
in the KPFK studios in Los Angeles the day after
(12:45):
Charlie Kirk's assassination, and so being on the air on
September eleventh, processing that trauma. It's very clear how I
feel politically, but that was a traumatic moment for me,
I have no problem restating that neither one of us
(13:07):
celebrated that loss of life. But it's just one of
those things where I will remember that I had to
process a lot of emotions in real time on the radio,
interacting with listeners live, some of whom disagree with me,
such as the nature of this you know this gig,
but you know some things that stood out of my mind.
(13:27):
Any closing thoughts, her.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Que kind of sadly leaving DC feeling unfulfilled and kind
of looking around like, wait, I thought we all came
here to get our marching orders, to hear the plan.
(13:50):
You said that, and just that lack of solidarity and
that lack of plan and next steps was really discouraging.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Yeah. Well, some of the great thinkers, authors, activists that
we look up to, some of the people that we
look to for the direction, know that Q famously refers to.
(14:25):
We've had a chance to have a good number of
breakout conversations with those folks in twenty twenty five. Uh,
And again, this is our reflections on this past year.
But I think it's important to impress upon you listening
to us that we never thought we would be here
(14:50):
doing this work again. Oh, I was given away CARDI
B tickets. That's what I That's what I did. Uh,
you know, and me and Q we talk about you know,
we were dealing with like kind of new music and
breaking breaking records on the radio, and you know, we
(15:11):
DJ nightclubs and you know, Q was very well regarded DJ,
you know, prior to us kind of moving in this direction.
So when I when I mentioned these names and how
in awe I am to be able to talk to
(15:33):
these great leaders. I mean that when we first started
doing this show, we did it because we thought it
was necessary to get community activists on the radio and
we needed to create a space for them. We never
thought that we would be the one sharing our message,
you know, and having to like learn how this journalistic
(15:54):
space works. Of course, we know radio like the back
of our hand. We've been doing radio forever, but have
to have long form conversations about things that really matter
and explaining and breaking down concepts was not something that
we thought we would end up doing. It's just this
show this Country showed us that there was an appetite
for this type of programming. And now we're doing this
(16:18):
and you're hearing our voices, And obviously the show has
grown beyond the boundaries and the types of interviews that
we were able to get over the course of you
know this that be now six years next year, in
twenty twenty six, that we've been doing this. It feels
(16:42):
like the culmination of maybe some sort of divine alignment
or divine effort. So when I mentioned these names, there's
a reverence that may or may not translate, but I
can assure you it means a great deal to me
to have been able to even have conversations with these
folks and share those conversations with you. So in twenty
(17:04):
twenty five, one of the guests that I remember Q
and I having a conversation about, you know, maybe one
day if we could have a conversation with him and
break down you know, you know, his thoughts from this
book that he wrote, or you know this social media
post that went viral of his or whatever. Is doctor
Ibram X KINDI just a fantastic orator and a great
(17:34):
a great mind. And to be able to share a
conversation with him and then have that be something that
I'm able to share with an audience that feels very special.
I want to just get through these names and then
you and I will kind of go back and share
some memories. But you know, we mentioned Mark Moreal from
(17:55):
the National Urban League and the president of the National
Urban but he's more than that and has been more
than that. He's another brilliant mind and a leader, and
he's one of those leaders that really does look forward.
He doesn't want to outgrow sort of the warrior class,
(18:21):
you know, with his leadership. He wants to make sure
that there's a robust warrior class there and that he
can you know, pass on the mantle. And he's just
been a great friend and someone that didn't need to
take time and invest, you know, time and energy into us,
but always has and always does. I want to make
(18:42):
sure that we shout out Joyanne Reid. She's another name
that you might know from MSNBC or from going viral
with all of her posts on social media. Just to
have a brown skin, short haired, black woman in the
(19:09):
position that she's in, unapologetically black, exceptionally politically sophisticated and fearless,
it's inspiring. And for someone who is as big a
name as the name that she has to appear on
our show, it might make sense to a lot of
(19:31):
you listening. But again to ramses to Q, we are
grateful that she would share her insight with us. You know,
it's people like her that kind of remind us that, hey,
you guys are doing the right thing. You guys created
something in a space that where it didn't exist. You
know a lot of people radio is it for them?
(19:52):
A lot of people will casually catch your show. And
you know podcasts you have to be in intentional about
finding a podcast, but they'll casually just come across part
of a conversation in boom. Now you have, you know,
new people listening, new people learning. You know, you're not
subjected to the algorithms and that sort of thing. You are,
(20:14):
you know, broadcasting and no one else had this, you know,
and you guys built it. Stacey Adams is another one.
She basically said the same thing to us again. Another
great political mind and political name to appear on the show.
Nicole Hannah Jones is another one. John Hope Brian is
a frequent guest on the show. But he is he's
(20:39):
a decidedly, unapologetically a black capitalist. But again, his conversations
are necessary because this is for better or worse capitalism
and we have to navigate these waters if we're going
to get to the waters that feel like they're a
little bit more appropriate for camaraderie and lifting all all boats.
(21:02):
Michael J. White, you know, made an appearance on the show.
Isaac caay is the third another social media phenomenon, of course,
the son of Isaac Hayes, the soul singer and the
founder and owner of fan Base, the social media app
that you know, we think is fair and doesn't deal
(21:29):
with algorithms and whatever. And you know, we post on consistently.
So if you don't have a fan Base account, be
sure to get one. But you know, all these names
are folks that we check out pretty consistently, and we
have a relationship. We have these people's phone numbers. We
can call, you know, I don't know, I pick a name,
(21:49):
doesn't matter, Ben Kromp if we want, you know whoever.
And so this progress and these names, this feels very
encouraging that we're doing something that's effective and we're providing
platforms for people that really are helping with the marching
orders when they have them. So I want to make
sure that you have some time to reflect too. Q.
(22:09):
But that's the picture.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I think the only word that I can come up
with is gratitude, Like some of these conversations that we
have and people who we didn't even get to name
that we've been able to interview and sit with and
talk to and share space with, because I don't mean
just like an in passing quick one too, and then
they're gone and we never speak. I mean sit down,
(22:37):
break bread, hang out, see each other in different cities,
and embrace and really get reminded that these are people
that care about us and that kind of hold us
in a certain regard. Gratitude is the only word that
comes to mind, because who are we right? People are
(22:57):
legitimately it's important to point out that they're leaders, but
it cannot be ignored that they're also celebrities. People would
pay money for their audience, people would pay money to
sit with them, to speak with them, to be able
to say on my platform, this person came to sit
(23:20):
with me those names that you said. It's still it's
not something that I've gotten used to. It's not something
that I take for granted. It's not like, yeah, oh yeah,
we had Joanne read On. It's like, can you believe
we had Joan read On? And then she invited us
on tour with her. So to everybody that allows us
(23:44):
to matter, because because people have to allow us to matter,
I just want to say thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah, there are still gatekeepers and this show and me
and Q have been welcomed in and hopefully we're doing
by everyone as promised. There were some shameful things that
took place in twenty twenty five, and I want to
(24:14):
make sure that we point out at least a few
of them. There was a lot, but we want to
point out at least a few of them because I
think that we are capable of that. Some of these things,
they don't really feel like they work in the best
(24:38):
interest of everyone, or even in the best interest of
anyone in some cases unless they have in my estimation,
the only thing that makes sense is it only makes
sense for them unless they have a racist agenda. So
(25:00):
for the many many people that say I'm not racist,
I just blink, or I'm not racist, whatever comes after that,
if any of these things don't cause you to feel
shamed on behalf of these organizations or entities that perform
these acts, then I invite you to really do a
(25:24):
deep dive on whether or not you might harbor racist sentiments,
because what I'm finding as I continue to walk this
path is that a lot of people don't know that
that's how they feel. They don't have a proper way
of envisioning other groups of people. They bring in too
many prejudices, so they cannot have an objective, critical examination
(25:48):
of them or themselves, and so they learn well after
the fact that yes, those indeed were racist thoughts or
ideas or whatever, and in the moment, they don't know
that that's what they're doing, and so they say things like, well,
I'm not racist, I got a black friend, you know,
stuff like that. So it's work, and a lot of
(26:11):
people don't want to do that work. They don't feel
like they need to, especially under this administration. But you know,
we will sure. So one of the things that stood
out from twenty twenty five, of course, was the All
American halftime show. Okay, for folks that don't remember, that
is a thing from Turning Point USA. They decided that
(26:38):
they were going to offer a halftime show to compete
with the Super BOWLS halftime show. After they booked Bad
Bunny to perform the halftime show. Now bear in mind,
just for some context, earlier this year, it was Kendrick
(26:59):
Lamar at the halftime show. And even though Kendrick Lamar was,
as you know, American, flagged out as a person can
be with all the red, white and blue, and he
didn't say anything that was critical or untrue of this
(27:20):
country in his halftime show, he certainly did, in my estimation,
with his black skin upset a lot of conservatives with
his rap music and you know, dancing on a flag
(27:42):
stage or with flag dancers on a stage or whatever.
They just took issue with that. So when Bad Bunny
comes to mind, these people are like, Okay, so we
need an American halftime show, ignoring the fact that Bad
Bunny is an American citizen, as Puerto Rico is a
part of America, and turning point USA trying to create
(28:06):
some alternative programming feels anti American. I think that Americans
should celebrate the fact that they own Puerto Rico for
all intents and purposes, you know what I mean. And
they're so deep in their conservativism, which is very very
close to racism, that they don't really realize that. Another
(28:32):
shameful moment is Donald Trump renaming the Kennedy Center after himself.
In this country, we have a history of honoring presidents
after they have passed away. Donald Trump, of course, is
not averse to breaking tradition. But I think that this
(28:52):
is a collective spit in the face of President Kennedy.
And there is a stunning silence out there now that
this has happened, and one that we will definitely talk
more about a little later on. Is the shameful thing
(29:13):
in this country was police and ICE agents covering their faces.
This is very much a twenty twenty five phenomenon that
has created an additional level of there's a lack, i
(29:35):
should say, of accountability, and there are abuses taking place
where people are not showing their faces and without accountability.
This feels like fascism in the United States of America,
and that is a scary thought. So stick around. We'll
(29:56):
be back with more after this
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