July 17, 2025 • 24 mins
BIN News Anchors Alexandria Ikomoni and Rey Harris join Hosts Ramses Ja and Q Ward on today's podcast to review the major news stories of the week.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's been another busy news week and we like to
review the major stories of the week here on the
Black Information Network. Today, we are joined by Black Information
Network news anchors Alexandria, Ikimoni and Ray Harris to discuss
this week's major stories.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is the QR code. He is q Ward and
he is ramses job.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
All right, you too, Welcome back to the show, Alexandria
and Ray Harris. Alexandria, anything new in your world?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hi, just recovering from beyond San Atlanta. Lost my voice,
so worth it. Yeah, so that's the biggest thing in
my life right now.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Okay, okay, that's that's a flex. I'll take it.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Can you top that?
Speaker 5 (00:37):
No?
Speaker 4 (00:37):
I can't top that one. I'm trying to keep up
with you guys. How about that?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
It's all good? All right, Well, let's get to the news.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
First up, there's a new poll out that reveals some
interesting data on several Democratic leaders and the twenty twenty
eight presidential primary. Alexandria, let's get today's show started with
you tell us more about some of the findings in
this poll. And then Ray and of course Q will
want to hear your thoughts. Actor.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, interesting that we're already focused on the twenty twenty
eight presidential election, but not surprising at the same time,
yere so this poll has former Vice President Kamala Harris
and Vice President Jade Vance as early front runners for
that presidential election in twenty twenty eight. So this recent
poll found that Harris received twenty six percent of support
(01:20):
from Democrats and Vance got forty three percent support with Republicans.
But there are some other names also on this list.
We have former Transportation Secretary Pete Bouda Judge. He's second
among Democrats at eleven percent support. You have California Governor
Gavin Newsom at ten percent for support. On the Republican side,
(01:40):
you have Florida Governor Ron de Santez who has nine
percent of support. Secretary of State actually Marco Rubio. He
ranked a third with seven percent support for the Republican side.
But there are some other big names that we also
know that is a part of this overall list of support.
Senator Corey Booker's on that list. Other names that we
(02:03):
all know and a lot of us love as well.
So really interesting to see how it's all going to
shape up when action the time comes.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Ray and another name Governor Gavin Newsom. He's been churning
up a lot of waves as a result of all
of this. And it's never too soon for the Democrats
because pundons say it's going to be a big issue
what direction the Democrats go when it's time for these
(02:34):
elections to come up. So the midterms are going to
be very important for the Democratic Party moving forward, and
also the elections in twenty twenty eight. They can't start
too soon, you know.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
I wonder if anybody can colaise a base that's unified.
There's a tendency to kind of cannibalize one another when
it comes down to it, and it's a race against
those who don't have that issue. They kind of they
have their things that they run on that are important
to them, and they're kind of unified on very very
(03:11):
a small list of things, but those things tie them
together kind of indefinitely. Even if those things are, you know,
hyper divisive, they're unified on it. So Democrats, I think
will have a hard time just trying to get the
base to collace or to be unified on some single topic.
I think that tends to be the advantage that they have.
(03:33):
It's not that they have more qualified or even more
popular candidates. They're just very unified in there and what
they're trying to get accomplished. So once they pick someone,
everyone rallies behind them and supports them. Where once the
Democrats pick someone, you'll see it. They'll start telling you
all the reasons why they're not that good and criticizing
(03:53):
them for decisions that they make. So I'm hoping that
that's not something that plagues us again, because more than
you know, cammalists on the message as not being perfect.
I think not being able to find a unified message
was more a problem than her specific strategy not being
(04:14):
your correct one.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
A recent shooting in Mississippi is shining new criticism on
how law enforcement handles cases involving the standard ground concept.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Ray.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
You reside in Florida, where the standard ground low surface
during the Trayvon Martin murder. So this time let's start
with you tell us more about this new case, and
then Alexandria and Ramsas will have you weigh on in
it next.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
This involves a gentleman by the name of Reginald Butler,
African American who was confronted by several white males and
they got into a verbal altercation. Mister Butler left the
scene and was confronted a short distance away by several
(05:00):
of the individuals again and he stood his ground. He
felt that his life was in jeopardy and he fired
and hit one of the white male suspects involved in
the case. Now, since that time, he has been arrested
on aggravated assault charges and posted a fifty thousand dollars bond.
(05:24):
But it goes back to their Trayvon Martin situation, as
you mentioned, and this Staniel Ground law, which is a
very controversial law, not only in Florida, in Mississippi and
Texas as well, and it has brought forth a lot
of cases where you know, people just feel like if
(05:46):
they feel as if their life is in jeopardy or
someone near them and their party is in jeopardy, they
can protect themselves by pulling out their weapon. Very controversial law,
but it has been challenged in numerous states including Florida
and Texas and now in Mississippi where the Sheriff Travis
(06:12):
Patten is it says the investigation tends to be a
stand your ground. But mister Butler, who is African American,
was arrested anyway and charged with the aggravated assault in
the case.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
And that lost seems to be applied different when the
person exercising that right is a black So Alexandria, what
what's your take on it?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, I kind of wanted to focus on, you know,
something here coming really from the sheriff, and these are
what the reports are seen at the sheriff. He said
that they acknowledge that the white man was the aggressor
after doing their investigations. However, because he was charged with
a felony aggravated assault, he can't be unarrested per se,
(07:01):
and he still has to, you know, go through the
process with the DA's office, wh will present it to
a grand jury to the side. But that sheriff did
make a note saying this is actually a quote just no,
I will be doing the right thing based on all
the facts and evidence we are gathering.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So, of course, a fortunate situation.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
We understand the controversial law, but at least you know,
there are efforts being made on the sheriff first responders
standpoint in order to kind of fix I say that
loosely the situation at hand.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yeah, So when I read this, I I saw that
there was an issue, a conflict between a black man
and a group of white people.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
The black man then went.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
And retrieved his weapon and was then reconfronted by that
same group of white men later again they were the aggressors,
so that in and of itself justifies him getting his firearm.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
So, whatever it was that he saw or felt like.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I should probably have my gun on me. Let me
go home and get my gun. They then justified that
action by approaching him as the aggressors again a second time. Initially,
when he was arrested, they were trying to say that, oh,
because he had gone home to get his gun, this
(08:32):
was some form of like aggravated like assaults. I'm not
sure what the lingo is. I don't have the article here,
I just have the notes. But there was something some
justification that the police had for or for arresting him
because he had gone home to get his weapon. And
then when they came to terms with the fact that no,
this group of men were the aggressors the second time. Okay,
(08:55):
now that looks like a pattern of harassment. Okay, now
it looks like these people were actually bullying this man.
These people were being the aggressors and this man was
indeed protecting himself using his Second Amendment, right, Okay, and
you know somebody ends up getting shot and then he
gets arrested, and if I'm not mistaken, he's still behind bars,
(09:18):
he's still incarcerated. So yeah, this is another one of
those things, you know, we talked about it on yesterday
show Q where there's a hypocrisy, there's a an uneven
playing field. You know, the rules are different when you
have this belief system or you look like this, or
(09:39):
you you know, have this background, or have this financial
status or whatever the case is. And the more it's
on full display, the more I realized that the the
fear that I was taught about countries out beyond the
United States is never justified. You know, people always say, oh,
(10:02):
you don't like it here, go live somewhere else. Well,
other places, you know, Yeah, there's certainly some corrupt places
around the world, but there's this idea of American exceptionalism
that America has everything right and everywhere else's backwards, and
stuff like this lets me further know how wrong that sentiment,
that notion is. And again, because I've been able to travel,
(10:24):
You've been able to travel and see much of the
world and see how they move. Granted, I haven't been
subject to the forces of every society on the planet,
but I can certainly tell that this great American experiment
isn't the only one, and it is not really firing
on all cylinders, certainly not insofar as marginalized.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
People are concerned.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I think this news story puts out on full display
for everyone to see. Black Information Network news anchors Alexandria,
Ikimoni and Ray Harris are here with us discussing this
week's major stories.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
All right, next up.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Talked about this a little earlier in the week, but
I would love to get your thoughts on it as well.
So Carnival Cruise Lines has been in the news lately,
and the attention isn't due to their excursion packages or
new withe items. Alexandria, let's go back to you to
get a started here, give us some insight on the
latest news involving new policies aboard Carnival Cruise Line ships,
and then rank you.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Of course we're gonna get your thoughts after.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
This is one that has been very interesting to see
everybody's opinion. When I say everybody, I'm really really talking
to Black people honestly, because there are two sides to this,
two sides, I would say, opinion wise, it's not mostly
all agree with one way and you know, not many
(11:40):
on the other. I feel like there's a balance in
how people feel about this one. So let me give
you the backstory here. Carnival cruise lines, they've been in
news lately and they are getting some heat for you know,
like you said, it's not for the cool, fun stuff.
It's for some policies that aren't sitting well with a
lot of people, but many on social media. I do
(12:01):
believe it targets specifically black people. There's a zero tolerance
dance on weed, even if it's legal in the passenger's
home state, there's a curfew for miners. Now they allegedly banned,
allegedly the wobble line dance. We don't know, whabba whabbah
wahbah whah. We all know that dance, right, So they
allegedly banned that dance and also handheld non battery operator fans,
(12:23):
which people were upset about as well. But there are
also new policies surrounding having personal Bluetooth speakers and also
the biggest one. I feel like that people are responding
to is that they started limiting hip hop and rap
music inside the clubs on the cruise ships. I'm just
giving what I have been seeing on social media as
(12:45):
far as the reaction here, So these are not my opinions,
So I'm just going to give what I've been seeing.
I see a group of people on social media, especially
TikTok so I'm heavy on here, saying that, yes, this
is racist, this is targeting black people not wanting to
have a good time the way we like to have
a good time on our cruise ships.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And I don't like that.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
I don't support that, so I'm not going to be
using this cruise on anymore. The other side that I
have been seeing from black people specifically has been we
was what they're saying, we don't know how to act
sometimes and it shows, and that is why they're putting
these policies in place. That is what I'm saying in
(13:26):
summary here. Loosely. A lot of people also feel like
sometimes it doesn't fit I guess the vision and vibe
that they have when they go on the cruise. And
I say that because some people are saying they want
to relax, they want to have downtime. They want a
little more peaceful environment, and when you have certain people
there with certain music, it disrupts that vibe. So some
(13:50):
black people understand why the policies changed, But on the
other hand, a lot of black people are saying, no,
I don't support this. It feels racist. It feels like
a're targeting us and don't want us to have a
good time the way we like to have a good time,
and we're going to say something about that and hold
you accountable for that as well. So a lot of
mixed emotions on this. And you talked about saying this earlier,
(14:11):
of course, and I know everybody's thoughts on this one too.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Ray, Wow, this is a big one. First, the disclaimer,
I personally have never been on a cruise. Don't have
a desire to go on a cruise. It's just not
for me. I fly everywhere I go, or uber or
drive if it's less than two hours. Now, with that
(14:35):
out the way, the rules, yes, they seem like they're
targeting a specific demographic, especially when you talk about limiting
line dancing. I really don't get that part. And what
(14:57):
does that have to do with, you know, upsetting other people?
That's on the ship having fun. I really don't understand that.
But these rules seem like they were implemented by a
very insensitive group. But you have an industry that has
been plagued with numerous problems since COVID, and one of
(15:21):
the main things is they always have food contaminations and
we report on that numerously. So they're attacking a whole
variety of different problems. But now it seems like they're
attacking a specific demographic and that's unfortunate.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeop.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Yeah, So the hospitality industry seems to have a catch
all for solving problems across the board. It seems to
always be let's get rid of hip hop. Right, there's
too many fights, there's too much noise, there's too much
whatever is negative. So the way to solve that is
to get rid of hip hop music, which in their estimation,
means less black people will show up, less black people
(16:09):
will want to be here, and that will solve our problem.
The reason why it feels targeted is because they're not saying, hey,
people want a more peaceful, relaxed cruise, So let's get
rid of music all together, or let's get rid of
the DJs all together, or let's get rid of the
nightclub all together, or let's get rid of the line
dances all together. Nope, get rid of that black one,
the wobble one, get rid of that hippiie hop and
(16:32):
oh yeah, no weed, because only black people smoke weed.
It's a really really interesting approach that you know, Rams
and I have worked in nightlife and on cruises, and
people who are idiots that cause problems don't wait for
the right songs to come on. You know, it's impossible
to kind of facilitate rules that will keep bad people
(16:53):
from booking a cruise unless you're doing you know, full
scope background checks for every person that wants to get
on your cruise and having someone follow them around and
check references at their jobs. Like we don't know if
there are great people or not so great people getting
on board. And the way to filter out bad people
is not get rid of the stuff that attracts black people.
But that seems to be the strategy, even if they
(17:15):
don't say it, And that's why it feels so targeted
and just flatly racists sometimes because the person who just
wants to relax on the cruise can the nightclub situation
and where the DJs are is always a separate room
or a separate part of the ship, and there's another
part of the ship where you can sunbathe all day
and not be disturbed at all. So, you know, banning
(17:36):
hip hop, you know, banning marijuana, you know, sometimes creating
strange dress codes where they can enforce them loosely whenever
they want, always seems to be a reason or a
way of getting rid of black people. So you know
that's the reason why that feels so targeted in that way.
We want to end this Leek's program with a new
story involving another case of blatant race them in public transportation. Right,
(18:01):
tell us a little bit more about this story, Alexandria
and rams that you guys will close us out.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Jefferson Lines Bus Company and Fargo North Dakota has been
called in the question. This comes as a result of
an incident where two black men boarded a bus and
Fargo North Dakota back in twenty twenty three. They were
asked to sit at the back of the bus by
(18:27):
the driver, giving them flashbacks all the way back to
nineteen fifty five when Rosa Parks launched her protest and
refused to sit in the back of the bus. But
these gentlemen were asked to move to the back of
the bus. They were the only two black men on
the bus, and they felt that it was racial discrimination,
(18:51):
and they ended up following a lawsuit asking for fifty
thousand dollars in damages. But here we are in twenty
twenty five and African Americans and people of color are
still being asked to sit or demand they move be
moved to the back of the bus.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Alexandria, Yeah, this story, I mean was just I can't
believe I'm reading that in twenty twenty five or hearing
about that in twenty twenty five. It's just, you know, heartbreaking.
I mean, the lawsuit was saying that these men were
the only black passengers on the bus or the incident,
and others could do what they like to do. And
(19:35):
because of that, and because of all this facts that
Ray also included the plaints of asking for fifty thousand
dollars in damages to meat doesn't even seem like enough
for really what has allegedly transpired. So it's one that
will be of course falling closely with updates on bil
and just kind of seeing where it goes. From here.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Job, Well, I actually looked into this story, So you're
absolutely right, Alexandria. The bus was in I'm not mistaken.
This was in Fargo, North Dakota. And so them being
(20:20):
the only two black passengers on the bus kind of
checks out given the racial composition of North Dakota. I've
been there. It's not a lot of black folks there.
But the interesting thing that stood out to me when
I was checking this out is the justification for it.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
So why how do you justify this?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Right?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
So, the bus driver said that the two men smelled
like marijuana and therefore was telling them to go to
the back of the bus so that they could not
offend other passengers with the aroma marijuana. Right, this is
the thinking, uh, and and this is a justification for
(21:05):
that action.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
But I suspect that that might have something to do with.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Uh like a like a an after the fact plausible
defense that is not necessarily what actually took place.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
In other words, you know, the police will will pull
us over Q and they'll say, huh, I got a
whiff of marijuana. Will you step out of the car,
And we're like, well, neither of us of us have
ever smoked marijuana in our lives. So how you could
get a whiff of marijuana in this car that we've
owned since it was new. It's crazy, but you know,
go off and then we have to get out of
(21:51):
the car and then play that whole song and dance
with them because they quote unquote, since marijuana or smelled
or detected or or something like that, right, I suspect
that that's probably what happened here. However, if indeed that
was not what happened, and indeed this bus driver did
(22:12):
get a hint of marijuana from these passengers, well, I
looked up the marijuana laws in North Dakota and it
turns out that marijuana is legal for medicinal use.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
In other words, there are people who can have and
consume marijuana or medical issues there, and of course you're
not allowed to ask. I think that's like a hip
of violation or something like that. But you know, people
do use marijuana for whatever reason in North Dakota. And therefore,
(22:46):
regardless of how they smelled, if they smelled like cigarettes
because they just were having a cigarette, you know, they
wouldn't get asked to move to the back of the bus.
And critically, no matter what they smelled like marijuana or cigarettes.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
I suspect if they were white that they wouldn't be
asked to move anywhere.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
And I think that we're all in agreement there, but
I just I think it's important to frame this story
that way. So, uh, that's not doing any favors for
North or North Dakota in terms of like getting me
to want to travel back there. I doubt it's doing
any favors or anybody else who might have been considering
it either.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
So that's just a big too bad.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
And of course, like you said, Alexander, we're gonna keep
watching this story to see how it develops. But with
that in mind, I'd like to thank you both very
much for your time and your insight. Once again. Today's
guest are Black Information Network news anchors Alexandria Ikimoni and
Ray Harris. This has been a production of the Black
Information Network. Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have
(23:46):
some thoughts you'd like to share? Use the red microphone
talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be
sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes.
I'm your host, Ramsey's Jaw on all social media.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
I am q Ward on all social media as well.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
And we'll be hosting another episode of Civiccipher this weekend
on a station near you. For stations, showtimes, and podcast info,
checkciviccipher dot com and join us Monday as we share
our news with our voice from our perspective right here
on the QR code
It's been another busy news week and we like to
review the major stories of the week here on the
Black Information Network. Today, we are joined by Black Information
Network news anchors Alexandria, Ikimoni and Ray Harris to discuss
this week's major stories.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is the QR code. He is q Ward and
he is ramses job.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
All right, you too, Welcome back to the show, Alexandria
and Ray Harris. Alexandria, anything new in your world?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hi, just recovering from beyond San Atlanta. Lost my voice,
so worth it. Yeah, so that's the biggest thing in
my life right now.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Okay, okay, that's that's a flex. I'll take it.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Can you top that?
Speaker 5 (00:37):
No?
Speaker 4 (00:37):
I can't top that one. I'm trying to keep up
with you guys. How about that?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
It's all good? All right, Well, let's get to the news.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
First up, there's a new poll out that reveals some
interesting data on several Democratic leaders and the twenty twenty
eight presidential primary. Alexandria, let's get today's show started with
you tell us more about some of the findings in
this poll. And then Ray and of course Q will
want to hear your thoughts. Actor.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, interesting that we're already focused on the twenty twenty
eight presidential election, but not surprising at the same time,
yere so this poll has former Vice President Kamala Harris
and Vice President Jade Vance as early front runners for
that presidential election in twenty twenty eight. So this recent
poll found that Harris received twenty six percent of support
(01:20):
from Democrats and Vance got forty three percent support with Republicans.
But there are some other names also on this list.
We have former Transportation Secretary Pete Bouda Judge. He's second
among Democrats at eleven percent support. You have California Governor
Gavin Newsom at ten percent for support. On the Republican side,
(01:40):
you have Florida Governor Ron de Santez who has nine
percent of support. Secretary of State actually Marco Rubio. He
ranked a third with seven percent support for the Republican side.
But there are some other big names that we also
know that is a part of this overall list of support.
Senator Corey Booker's on that list. Other names that we
(02:03):
all know and a lot of us love as well.
So really interesting to see how it's all going to
shape up when action the time comes.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Ray and another name Governor Gavin Newsom. He's been churning
up a lot of waves as a result of all
of this. And it's never too soon for the Democrats
because pundons say it's going to be a big issue
what direction the Democrats go when it's time for these
(02:34):
elections to come up. So the midterms are going to
be very important for the Democratic Party moving forward, and
also the elections in twenty twenty eight. They can't start
too soon, you know.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
I wonder if anybody can colaise a base that's unified.
There's a tendency to kind of cannibalize one another when
it comes down to it, and it's a race against
those who don't have that issue. They kind of they
have their things that they run on that are important
to them, and they're kind of unified on very very
(03:11):
a small list of things, but those things tie them
together kind of indefinitely. Even if those things are, you know,
hyper divisive, they're unified on it. So Democrats, I think
will have a hard time just trying to get the
base to collace or to be unified on some single topic.
I think that tends to be the advantage that they have.
(03:33):
It's not that they have more qualified or even more
popular candidates. They're just very unified in there and what
they're trying to get accomplished. So once they pick someone,
everyone rallies behind them and supports them. Where once the
Democrats pick someone, you'll see it. They'll start telling you
all the reasons why they're not that good and criticizing
(03:53):
them for decisions that they make. So I'm hoping that
that's not something that plagues us again, because more than
you know, cammalists on the message as not being perfect.
I think not being able to find a unified message
was more a problem than her specific strategy not being
(04:14):
your correct one.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
A recent shooting in Mississippi is shining new criticism on
how law enforcement handles cases involving the standard ground concept.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Ray.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
You reside in Florida, where the standard ground low surface
during the Trayvon Martin murder. So this time let's start
with you tell us more about this new case, and
then Alexandria and Ramsas will have you weigh on in
it next.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
This involves a gentleman by the name of Reginald Butler,
African American who was confronted by several white males and
they got into a verbal altercation. Mister Butler left the
scene and was confronted a short distance away by several
(05:00):
of the individuals again and he stood his ground. He
felt that his life was in jeopardy and he fired
and hit one of the white male suspects involved in
the case. Now, since that time, he has been arrested
on aggravated assault charges and posted a fifty thousand dollars bond.
(05:24):
But it goes back to their Trayvon Martin situation, as
you mentioned, and this Staniel Ground law, which is a
very controversial law, not only in Florida, in Mississippi and
Texas as well, and it has brought forth a lot
of cases where you know, people just feel like if
(05:46):
they feel as if their life is in jeopardy or
someone near them and their party is in jeopardy, they
can protect themselves by pulling out their weapon. Very controversial law,
but it has been challenged in numerous states including Florida
and Texas and now in Mississippi where the Sheriff Travis
(06:12):
Patten is it says the investigation tends to be a
stand your ground. But mister Butler, who is African American,
was arrested anyway and charged with the aggravated assault in
the case.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
And that lost seems to be applied different when the
person exercising that right is a black So Alexandria, what
what's your take on it?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, I kind of wanted to focus on, you know,
something here coming really from the sheriff, and these are
what the reports are seen at the sheriff. He said
that they acknowledge that the white man was the aggressor
after doing their investigations. However, because he was charged with
a felony aggravated assault, he can't be unarrested per se,
(07:01):
and he still has to, you know, go through the
process with the DA's office, wh will present it to
a grand jury to the side. But that sheriff did
make a note saying this is actually a quote just no,
I will be doing the right thing based on all
the facts and evidence we are gathering.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So, of course, a fortunate situation.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
We understand the controversial law, but at least you know,
there are efforts being made on the sheriff first responders
standpoint in order to kind of fix I say that
loosely the situation at hand.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yeah, So when I read this, I I saw that
there was an issue, a conflict between a black man
and a group of white people.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
The black man then went.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
And retrieved his weapon and was then reconfronted by that
same group of white men later again they were the aggressors,
so that in and of itself justifies him getting his firearm.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
So, whatever it was that he saw or felt like.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I should probably have my gun on me. Let me
go home and get my gun. They then justified that
action by approaching him as the aggressors again a second time. Initially,
when he was arrested, they were trying to say that, oh,
because he had gone home to get his gun, this
(08:32):
was some form of like aggravated like assaults. I'm not
sure what the lingo is. I don't have the article here,
I just have the notes. But there was something some
justification that the police had for or for arresting him
because he had gone home to get his weapon. And
then when they came to terms with the fact that no,
this group of men were the aggressors the second time. Okay,
(08:55):
now that looks like a pattern of harassment. Okay, now
it looks like these people were actually bullying this man.
These people were being the aggressors and this man was
indeed protecting himself using his Second Amendment, right, Okay, and
you know somebody ends up getting shot and then he
gets arrested, and if I'm not mistaken, he's still behind bars,
(09:18):
he's still incarcerated. So yeah, this is another one of
those things, you know, we talked about it on yesterday
show Q where there's a hypocrisy, there's a an uneven
playing field. You know, the rules are different when you
have this belief system or you look like this, or
(09:39):
you you know, have this background, or have this financial
status or whatever the case is. And the more it's
on full display, the more I realized that the the
fear that I was taught about countries out beyond the
United States is never justified. You know, people always say, oh,
(10:02):
you don't like it here, go live somewhere else. Well,
other places, you know, Yeah, there's certainly some corrupt places
around the world, but there's this idea of American exceptionalism
that America has everything right and everywhere else's backwards, and
stuff like this lets me further know how wrong that sentiment,
that notion is. And again, because I've been able to travel,
(10:24):
You've been able to travel and see much of the
world and see how they move. Granted, I haven't been
subject to the forces of every society on the planet,
but I can certainly tell that this great American experiment
isn't the only one, and it is not really firing
on all cylinders, certainly not insofar as marginalized.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
People are concerned.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I think this news story puts out on full display
for everyone to see. Black Information Network news anchors Alexandria,
Ikimoni and Ray Harris are here with us discussing this
week's major stories.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
All right, next up.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Talked about this a little earlier in the week, but
I would love to get your thoughts on it as well.
So Carnival Cruise Lines has been in the news lately,
and the attention isn't due to their excursion packages or
new withe items. Alexandria, let's go back to you to
get a started here, give us some insight on the
latest news involving new policies aboard Carnival Cruise Line ships,
and then rank you.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Of course we're gonna get your thoughts after.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
This is one that has been very interesting to see
everybody's opinion. When I say everybody, I'm really really talking
to Black people honestly, because there are two sides to this,
two sides, I would say, opinion wise, it's not mostly
all agree with one way and you know, not many
(11:40):
on the other. I feel like there's a balance in
how people feel about this one. So let me give
you the backstory here. Carnival cruise lines, they've been in
news lately and they are getting some heat for you know,
like you said, it's not for the cool, fun stuff.
It's for some policies that aren't sitting well with a
lot of people, but many on social media. I do
(12:01):
believe it targets specifically black people. There's a zero tolerance
dance on weed, even if it's legal in the passenger's
home state, there's a curfew for miners. Now they allegedly banned,
allegedly the wobble line dance. We don't know, whabba whabbah
wahbah whah. We all know that dance, right, So they
allegedly banned that dance and also handheld non battery operator fans,
(12:23):
which people were upset about as well. But there are
also new policies surrounding having personal Bluetooth speakers and also
the biggest one. I feel like that people are responding
to is that they started limiting hip hop and rap
music inside the clubs on the cruise ships. I'm just
giving what I have been seeing on social media as
(12:45):
far as the reaction here, So these are not my opinions,
So I'm just going to give what I've been seeing.
I see a group of people on social media, especially
TikTok so I'm heavy on here, saying that, yes, this
is racist, this is targeting black people not wanting to
have a good time the way we like to have
a good time on our cruise ships.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And I don't like that.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
I don't support that, so I'm not going to be
using this cruise on anymore. The other side that I
have been seeing from black people specifically has been we
was what they're saying, we don't know how to act
sometimes and it shows, and that is why they're putting
these policies in place. That is what I'm saying in
(13:26):
summary here. Loosely. A lot of people also feel like
sometimes it doesn't fit I guess the vision and vibe
that they have when they go on the cruise. And
I say that because some people are saying they want
to relax, they want to have downtime. They want a
little more peaceful environment, and when you have certain people
there with certain music, it disrupts that vibe. So some
(13:50):
black people understand why the policies changed, But on the
other hand, a lot of black people are saying, no,
I don't support this. It feels racist. It feels like
a're targeting us and don't want us to have a
good time the way we like to have a good time,
and we're going to say something about that and hold
you accountable for that as well. So a lot of
mixed emotions on this. And you talked about saying this earlier,
(14:11):
of course, and I know everybody's thoughts on this one too.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Ray, Wow, this is a big one. First, the disclaimer,
I personally have never been on a cruise. Don't have
a desire to go on a cruise. It's just not
for me. I fly everywhere I go, or uber or
drive if it's less than two hours. Now, with that
(14:35):
out the way, the rules, yes, they seem like they're
targeting a specific demographic, especially when you talk about limiting
line dancing. I really don't get that part. And what
(14:57):
does that have to do with, you know, upsetting other people?
That's on the ship having fun. I really don't understand that.
But these rules seem like they were implemented by a
very insensitive group. But you have an industry that has
been plagued with numerous problems since COVID, and one of
(15:21):
the main things is they always have food contaminations and
we report on that numerously. So they're attacking a whole
variety of different problems. But now it seems like they're
attacking a specific demographic and that's unfortunate.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeop.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Yeah, So the hospitality industry seems to have a catch
all for solving problems across the board. It seems to
always be let's get rid of hip hop. Right, there's
too many fights, there's too much noise, there's too much
whatever is negative. So the way to solve that is
to get rid of hip hop music, which in their estimation,
means less black people will show up, less black people
(16:09):
will want to be here, and that will solve our problem.
The reason why it feels targeted is because they're not saying, hey,
people want a more peaceful, relaxed cruise, So let's get
rid of music all together, or let's get rid of
the DJs all together, or let's get rid of the
nightclub all together, or let's get rid of the line
dances all together. Nope, get rid of that black one,
the wobble one, get rid of that hippiie hop and
(16:32):
oh yeah, no weed, because only black people smoke weed.
It's a really really interesting approach that you know, Rams
and I have worked in nightlife and on cruises, and
people who are idiots that cause problems don't wait for
the right songs to come on. You know, it's impossible
to kind of facilitate rules that will keep bad people
(16:53):
from booking a cruise unless you're doing you know, full
scope background checks for every person that wants to get
on your cruise and having someone follow them around and
check references at their jobs. Like we don't know if
there are great people or not so great people getting
on board. And the way to filter out bad people
is not get rid of the stuff that attracts black people.
But that seems to be the strategy, even if they
(17:15):
don't say it, And that's why it feels so targeted
and just flatly racists sometimes because the person who just
wants to relax on the cruise can the nightclub situation
and where the DJs are is always a separate room
or a separate part of the ship, and there's another
part of the ship where you can sunbathe all day
and not be disturbed at all. So, you know, banning
(17:36):
hip hop, you know, banning marijuana, you know, sometimes creating
strange dress codes where they can enforce them loosely whenever
they want, always seems to be a reason or a
way of getting rid of black people. So you know
that's the reason why that feels so targeted in that way.
We want to end this Leek's program with a new
story involving another case of blatant race them in public transportation. Right,
(18:01):
tell us a little bit more about this story, Alexandria
and rams that you guys will close us out.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Jefferson Lines Bus Company and Fargo North Dakota has been
called in the question. This comes as a result of
an incident where two black men boarded a bus and
Fargo North Dakota back in twenty twenty three. They were
asked to sit at the back of the bus by
(18:27):
the driver, giving them flashbacks all the way back to
nineteen fifty five when Rosa Parks launched her protest and
refused to sit in the back of the bus. But
these gentlemen were asked to move to the back of
the bus. They were the only two black men on
the bus, and they felt that it was racial discrimination,
(18:51):
and they ended up following a lawsuit asking for fifty
thousand dollars in damages. But here we are in twenty
twenty five and African Americans and people of color are
still being asked to sit or demand they move be
moved to the back of the bus.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Alexandria, Yeah, this story, I mean was just I can't
believe I'm reading that in twenty twenty five or hearing
about that in twenty twenty five. It's just, you know, heartbreaking.
I mean, the lawsuit was saying that these men were
the only black passengers on the bus or the incident,
and others could do what they like to do. And
(19:35):
because of that, and because of all this facts that
Ray also included the plaints of asking for fifty thousand
dollars in damages to meat doesn't even seem like enough
for really what has allegedly transpired. So it's one that
will be of course falling closely with updates on bil
and just kind of seeing where it goes. From here.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Job, Well, I actually looked into this story, So you're
absolutely right, Alexandria. The bus was in I'm not mistaken.
This was in Fargo, North Dakota. And so them being
(20:20):
the only two black passengers on the bus kind of
checks out given the racial composition of North Dakota. I've
been there. It's not a lot of black folks there.
But the interesting thing that stood out to me when
I was checking this out is the justification for it.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
So why how do you justify this?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Right?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
So, the bus driver said that the two men smelled
like marijuana and therefore was telling them to go to
the back of the bus so that they could not
offend other passengers with the aroma marijuana. Right, this is
the thinking, uh, and and this is a justification for
(21:05):
that action.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
But I suspect that that might have something to do with.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Uh like a like a an after the fact plausible
defense that is not necessarily what actually took place.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
In other words, you know, the police will will pull
us over Q and they'll say, huh, I got a
whiff of marijuana. Will you step out of the car,
And we're like, well, neither of us of us have
ever smoked marijuana in our lives. So how you could
get a whiff of marijuana in this car that we've
owned since it was new. It's crazy, but you know,
go off and then we have to get out of
(21:51):
the car and then play that whole song and dance
with them because they quote unquote, since marijuana or smelled
or detected or or something like that, right, I suspect
that that's probably what happened here. However, if indeed that
was not what happened, and indeed this bus driver did
(22:12):
get a hint of marijuana from these passengers, well, I
looked up the marijuana laws in North Dakota and it
turns out that marijuana is legal for medicinal use.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
In other words, there are people who can have and
consume marijuana or medical issues there, and of course you're
not allowed to ask. I think that's like a hip
of violation or something like that. But you know, people
do use marijuana for whatever reason in North Dakota. And therefore,
(22:46):
regardless of how they smelled, if they smelled like cigarettes
because they just were having a cigarette, you know, they
wouldn't get asked to move to the back of the bus.
And critically, no matter what they smelled like marijuana or cigarettes.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
I suspect if they were white that they wouldn't be
asked to move anywhere.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
And I think that we're all in agreement there, but
I just I think it's important to frame this story
that way. So, uh, that's not doing any favors for
North or North Dakota in terms of like getting me
to want to travel back there. I doubt it's doing
any favors or anybody else who might have been considering
it either.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
So that's just a big too bad.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
And of course, like you said, Alexander, we're gonna keep
watching this story to see how it develops. But with
that in mind, I'd like to thank you both very
much for your time and your insight. Once again. Today's
guest are Black Information Network news anchors Alexandria Ikimoni and
Ray Harris. This has been a production of the Black
Information Network. Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have
(23:46):
some thoughts you'd like to share? Use the red microphone
talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be
sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes.
I'm your host, Ramsey's Jaw on all social media.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
I am q Ward on all social media as well.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
And we'll be hosting another episode of Civiccipher this weekend
on a station near you. For stations, showtimes, and podcast info,
checkciviccipher dot com and join us Monday as we share
our news with our voice from our perspective right here
on the QR code
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