October 21, 2025 • 28 mins
Today's top story: Black Voter Protections in Peril If Voting Rights Act Is Overturned. Hear more about these stories and more on today's podcast.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Still broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. This is the
QR code where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes.
The man you are about to hear from is a
man with a laugh that can light up a room.
I promised, I've heard it several times. He is simply
a joy to be around. He is the Q in
the QR code.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
He goes by the name of q Board, the voice
you just heard, the kind of spiritual leader to the show.
He's talking about my laugh. He has heard it a lot.
He actually heard it one time so much that we
almost died. Yeah, I remember that, and I needed him
to let me stop laughing, and he wouldn't want him
(00:41):
to help me stop laughing, and he wouldn't, and we
almost died. And I'm not exaggerating or being hyperbotlic. I
will tell you that story one day. He is the
R in the QR code. However, he goes by the
name ramses Jah.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
And be sure to stick around.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
We're still talking about Angel Reese being the first athlete
to walk in the Victoria's Secret Runway show, black Voter
Protections being in peril, But right now it's.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Time for Q words.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Clap back as he discusses Trump's AI message showing the
utmost disrespect for US citizens. Q, you.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Know an interest.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
An interesting thing happened post no King's rally where and
I saw someone say this, and it caught me off guard.
I don't I'll have to relook it up or google it,
or maybe I'll scroll social media and see if I
can find it. But it was someone describing this AI
(01:34):
video of you know, King Trump and a fighter jet
dropping feces all over protesters. Except the caption or the
description or whatever it was said that he was dropping
feces on his enemies. And that struck me because they're
(01:57):
not enemies, they're Americans, and brought me to the question
or the statement or the thought. When the state starts
using AI to turn its own citizens into targets, I
(02:21):
guess we can stop pretending that we're at the point
where we're holding up warning signs. Because that was another
thing that I saw amidst the protests, where protesting some
of us to stop something from happen that already has.
We need to understand something. We're watching these lines be
(02:44):
crossed in real time. They're not eminent anymore. This is
here the president of the United States posted an AI
generated video of himself and a fighter jet labeled King
Trump dropping what I'll describe as brown sludge on crowds
(03:12):
of protesters, not foreign soldiers, not international adversaries, American citizens
exercising their right to protest. In the same week, the
Department of Homeland Security pushed out of a video that
(03:33):
turned a young black man, a private citizen, into a
target by misrepresenting a TikTok clip he was in. Once again,
this isn't just recklessness, this is intentional and dangerous. So
let's start with the AI bombing video. The President's video
(03:55):
AI generated propaganda, a fake not meant to fool anyone.
It looks like a fake video, but its intention is
to dehumanize the targets the president's quote unquote enemies. Picture
it if you haven't seen it. A fighter jet flying
(04:16):
overhead with a grinning President crowned like a king beneath him,
American protesters being covered in feces. This is not a joke.
I'm not making it up. This imagery is a message.
(04:37):
It tells his base, those people aren't your neighbors, they're
the enemy. It tells critics we can humiliate and target
you and laugh while we do it. That's not leadership.
That is the language of an authoritarian. Dehumanization always starts
(04:59):
as mine rockery, as a joke, something to laugh at,
so that his base can say he's just being Trump.
He doesn't mean it, that's just how he is quote
unquote locker room talk. And then the young man who
became a target now receiving death threats, a TikTok video
(05:21):
of him and his friends, not about ICE, a joke
about Iran, I believe, repurposed as a anti ICE, threatening
violent video with a new caption and pushed through on
(05:41):
official Department of Homeland Security channels suggesting that these young
black men were threatening federal agents. And just like that,
his face, not AI, his real face, his human face,
became a symbol of danger to millions of people who
(06:02):
saw the version of the video that DHS put out.
The result exactly what they hoped it would be, threats, harassment,
and fear. He didn't choose to be a part of
a national propaganda campaign. The state made him one. And
that's how fast technology and AI on a government platform
can turn an ordinary citizen into a villain and a target.
(06:25):
And this isn't just misinformation people state sponsored dehumanization. Think
about this. If the government can use AI to turn
protesters into enemies, mislabel a young man and unleash a
mob on him, then no one is safe from becoming
the next character in their narrative. This isn't and has
(06:49):
not been, about political differences. This is about power deciding
who counts as a person some rhetoric that we've heard before.
Who can be turned and to a caricature, a narrative
that we've heard before. Who can be humiliated, threatened and
erased again? Not democracy fascism with a filter and a caption.
(07:13):
Today's protesters today, it's random young black men tomorrow. Journalist,
broadcasters like myself and Ramses, a teacher, a nurse, an organizer, anyone.
The danger of AI in the hands of a government
that no longer respects democratic norms. The truth doesn't have
to be destroyed, just drowned out by a more entertaining lie.
(07:38):
And when the li is pushed from official government channels,
it carries the weight of the state behind it. Protesters
are not the enemy, and neither are young black men.
The truth is the enemy of those who seek unchecked power.
AI isn't the problem, it's the weapon, and right now
that weapon is being aimed at us.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Well. One of the things that.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I know a lot of us were looking forward to is,
you know, having an opportunity to get to the polls
and vote, and looking at the way this administration's approval
ratings have gone midterms, felt like maybe a bit of
(08:37):
respite lay on the horizon, you know, just over the
hills there. But as it turns out, black voter protections
are in peril if the Voting Rights Act is overturned.
And to be fair, there's nobody who is credible that
(09:01):
I've come across who thinks that the Voting Rights Act
has a chance of surviving this Supreme Court.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
So yeah, let's just get into it.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
This from BioNews dot com. The last major safeguard for
black voters under the Voting Rights Act may soon be eliminated,
per The Guardian. This week, the Supreme Court has signaled
that it may strike down Section two, the provision of
the VRA that prohibits rationally discriminatory voting practices, including jerrymandering,
that dilutes black political power. The Court heard oral arguments
(09:42):
in Louisiana versus Calais on Wednesday, October fifteenth, during which
conservative justices appeared poised to rule in favor of the
lawsuit brought by a group of non African American voters.
The lawsuit argues that redrawing Louisiana's congressional maps to give
black voters a second majority district, as ordered by lower
court under the VRA, violates the plaintiff's rights under the
(10:04):
fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments. Ruling in favor of the lawsuit
would effectively end federal protections against racial gerrymandering. Section two
is the last major safeguard for black voters after the
nation's highest court gutted Section five of the VRA in
twenty thirteen in Shelby County versus Holder, which had required
states with histories of voter suppression to get federal approval
(10:25):
before changing voting laws.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
The remedies are so tied up with race because race
is the initial problem, unquote, Justice Katanji Brown Jackson said
Wednesday as she pushed back against the Court's conservative majority.
Louisiana Versus. Calli's centers around the state's redistricting after the
twenty twenty census. Although Black residents make up one third
of Louisiana's population. Lawmakers drew only one majority black congressional district.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Federal courts ordered.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
The state to create a second, but the new challenge
aims to overturn that order, claiming it discriminates against white voters.
Conservative justice is argued that partisan motives, not race, justified
the map.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
I want to read that again.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Conservative justices argued that partisan motives, not race justified the map.
Their argument mirrors the twenty thirteen ruling in Shelby County
versus Holder, where Chief Justice John Roberts claimed racial discrimination
in voting had diminished. Experts warned that a ruling against
Section two would make it virtually impossible to challenge racial gerrymandering,
(11:27):
stripping black voters a meaningful legal recourse. Quote the Voting
Rights Act and forces the Fifteenth Amendment. It doesn't violate it, unquote.
Janni Nelson, president of the AACP Legal Defense Fund, set
in a statement a decision is expected by June twenty
twenty six, just months before the midterms, during which Republicans
could gain as many as nineteen House seats through racially
(11:47):
skewed maps that may no longer be subject to legal challenge.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
So yeah, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
But I want to offer something now. I don't know
how true this is, you know, it's my way to
tell you if I haven't done the research myself. But
I tend to align myself and follow reputable sources, tend
to don't always get it right. But I'm gonna share
something with you that it keeps me in this fight.
(12:22):
As I mentioned, you know, I just don't have no
quit in my heart. I'm not like, I'm just not
that person. I should have been like a big like
boxer or something like that, because I have like a
heart like that, you know, like mighty mouse man. But uh,
you know, every so often you get some encouragement and
it kind of increases the size of the fight and
(12:43):
the dog. This obviously will knock some wind out of
your sails. But the one thing that I'm holding on
too now is that a lot of the jerrymandering historically
has taken place in the South, and it has been
to the detriment of black voters. As mentioned, in Louisiana,
a third of the population is black. They only have
(13:04):
one district where they have a majority black representation. Black
people could be described as a political group because for
the most part, I mean that intentionally for the most part,
as in more than fifty one percent or more than
fifty percent.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Black voters are.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Aligned for the most part.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Okay, Black voters have spoken time and again that a
more progressive society, more inclusive society, reflects the reality in
which they want to live, and this last election I
think bears that out in the data as well, with
black men voting I think eighty three percent and black
women voting ninety two percent for the Democratic nominee, the
(13:54):
Progressive Party, the candidate that reflects their values more accurately,
more closely, and espouses the future in which black people
find themselves in a more equitable society. The thing about
these states in the South, though, is that they historically
(14:17):
have discriminated against black people. So they've already done the jerrymandering.
They've done it over and over and over again, and
they've jerry mandered about as much as they can.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Now.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
That's not to say they can't do anymore. Clearly, there's
nineteen more seats potentially available to them. But the good
news is that the blue states historically have not done this,
so there's plenty of room in blue states to offset this,
and the Supreme Court decision applies to all states. And
since they said you can do this for partisan reasons,
(14:54):
not racial reasons, meaning you can divide up the racial
makeup of the group if it serves the interest of
your party, that blows the door open, wide open for
Blue states to do the same thing. And that's where
you have a lot of population centers. You have a
lot of population. Indeed, now I don't want to be
(15:17):
obtuse I recognize that the Purple States all went for
Trump last election. They have governments in place that reflect
the the you know, the the majority in this country,
(15:38):
or at least the majority in the House, in the Senate.
And you know, I'm not sure what numbers will bear
out ultimately, but all hope is not lost. If enough
people get mad, then the voting rights protections, that's just
another hurdle to overcome. It's not impossible, just it just
(16:00):
more challenging. It's just more work. But you know, if
you're like me, and your heart don't beat fast, and
you ain't scared, and you down to get busy, what's
a little bit more hard work, right anything.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
What I've learned.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
In my time as an adult, and more in the
last ten years than any other point in my life,
is that there is a reluctance by the Democratic Party
to play by the rules that the Republicans play by.
So I would not get too excited at the idea
of Democrats doing their own version of jerrymandering to work
in their own favor, because they're too stuck in political norms,
(16:40):
and so are the citizens.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
All of the citizens you and I have.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Interviewed and looked at the data where people most harmed
and affected by police violence still think that we should
get more money to police because it makes the neighborhood safer,
because that's what they've been told, and that's what they think,
because that's the norm. They are more comfortable with the
other side being racist than being anti racists themselves because
that's the norm. There is a reluctancy for everyone to
(17:07):
hyper correct the other way, even as the other side
hyper corrects into aggressive, outward overt racism. There was a
reluctance for all people and government officials to be anti
the other direction. There is a reluctance holding on to
political norms and politeness and respectability in order to appear
(17:31):
better than the other side. So even when the other
side says we stole the election, we won't say they
stole the election because we don't like playing by their rules.
I'll say that again. Even when they say, yeah, we
rigged it and we wouldn't have won if we didn't
rig it, we still don't say, hey, they rigged it
because we are stuck to these norms. So you know,
(17:56):
it's hard for me to get hopeful around things like this,
but I guess we'll see.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Well, for our final segment, we're going to talk about
a little bit of what's going on in the entertainment world.
Angel Reese has walked in the Victoria's Secret Runway Show.
I'll jump right into it. This is from Bleacher Report,
which is a credible sort of outlet that cover sports.
(18:25):
Chicago sky star Angel Reese made history this week as
the first active professional athlete to walk in the Victoria's
Secret Fashion Show.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Reese shared photos of herself.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Walking the runway this week, as well as a video
caption forever that girl and girls and all caps and
I kind of like that. Es also marveled at how
far she'd come since working for a fast food restaurant
before beginning her college career at Maryland in twenty twenty.
Reese has previously showed an interest in fashion while starring
(18:56):
on the cover of Vogue magazine and serving on the
twenty two If I've Met Gala host committee.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
She said before the Victoria's Secret Show that.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
She had hired a modeling coach in order to help
her practice her walk ahead of her runway debut. You
want to go first?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Here que.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Any reflections on that.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
I don't mind going first. Yeah. How fitting is it
that Angel Reese.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Walked the Victoria's Secret runway with wings on her back?
Because this young woman can literally fly. There seems to
be no realm, no industry, no lane that she wants
to be in that she can't, from marketing to sneakers,
to athletics to fashion. You know, I saw one of
(19:48):
her followers, and I say that part funnily because this
person was following her even while being a kind of blatant, racist,
hypercritical person of her, telling her to pick a lane.
Do you want to be a model or do you
want to be a basketball player? And her response, first
(20:08):
of all, I don't have to pick a lane. Secondly,
the lane you want me to stay out of pays
me seven figures me being a marketable, beautiful, fashion centered,
style centered culture driver. Me helping you determine what's cool.
(20:31):
Me setting a standard and setting an example for young
ladies all over the world is a million dollar revenue
generator for me. My profession that you want me to
stick to doesn't pay like that yet. So I'm going
to do the thing that I love because I love it,
and these other things because I could make a living,
because I can pay my mom's house off. Because when
(20:55):
I become a mother, If I become a mother, I
can make decisions about where I grew, where I raise
my kids, where they grow up, how they're educated, access
to all these things that are denied to people like
me throughout the history of this country. This career path
that I've chosen and the things that I have access
to have given me access to things that would otherwise
(21:16):
be denied of me. So I know I won't choose,
I won't pick a lane. I'll use my turn signals
and get over whenever I feel. And watching her thrive
amidst people trying to make her the enemy and the
story that she did not elect to participate in, watching
her thrive despite people going out of their way to
(21:39):
put off socles in front of her and criticizing her.
You know, unfortunately, even black men using their platforms and
amplifying their voices to be critical of this young lady.
I'm proud of her. You know, we haven't had the
chance to meet her yet, but we will one day.
And just watching her navigate the spaces that she's in,
(22:02):
watching her not let the negativity overcome her and make
her a harsh, bitter person. She still smiles, she still
stops and signs all the autographs and takes all the
pictures and shouts out the little girls that buy her
dolls and her shirts and her shoes and her jerseys.
I'd love for this lady to continue to shine like
(22:23):
the star that she is, and we get to give
her a standing ovation every time because she's just breaking barriers.
There's a lot of first on her resume. She's been
the first woman and or person to do a lot
of things on this journey, and I'm looking forward to
to watching her continue to thrive.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
I wish that I knew I had as much context
for this moment as Q does, because Q typically knows
like these neat little like ancillary things about stories like this,
and I enjoy listening to them because it's like he reminds,
(23:07):
He lets me know that the story gets deeper. And
I was already excited about it, but I will offer
my I guess, my two cents. So I saw her
the pictures and I saw her kind of walking in
the show. And I remember hearing about her when she
was like first being in the w NBA or no,
(23:31):
when she was first, she was on the basketball team
and she was playing with the lady, the other lady,
and she was doing this to her finger like that,
like the ring like this, you know, and everyone said, oh,
that's so disrespectful. And people were like, oh, no, the
other lady did it to her. It was like a
(23:51):
white lady. She plays basketball too, And they were like, oh,
this white lady did it to her first, right, So
I know, I'm sorry, but just for some kind texts,
I know, I know I messed that up.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Haitlen Clark. The most famous woman basketball player is the
white lady he's talking about. And what she did was
not pointing out her ring finger. She was moving her
hand in front of her face.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Oh that was it.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Okay, Sina like you can't see me, and it was
celebrated because she was, you know, she was being brash
and she was saying it with her chest and she
was bawling. And then when Angel Reese did it back
to her, they made angel a villain for doing it.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Okay, that's what that was.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Kind of the first time we discussed her in the
story on one of our shows.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Okay, okay, So that's the that's the more accurate take.
I appreciate you, Thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Well, anyway, this is the first time I heard about
this lady, and it ended up being this thing where
people were pitting Angel Reese against Caitlyn Clark as they
both went into the w NBA. Now they're both competitors,
but a lot of people wanted it to be a
racial thing. And this was around the time when Trump
(25:03):
was kind of pursuing the White House again, and so
the racial divide in this country was deepening, and political
divide was deepening, and on and on and on. Now,
from where I sit, Caitlin Clark, the white Lady, has
handled a lot of this stuff really well. She's handled
it like a human being, not like a racist, vile
(25:24):
monster and she probably could have gotten away with that.
She's actually been a decent person as far as I know.
I don't know everything about these people, but one of
the things that I noticed was the people reacting to
Angel rees negatively, and there was not a lot of
people reacting to Caitlin Clark negatively, and so people would
(25:47):
try to make fun of Angel re saying she was ghetto,
you know, they.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Would try to talk about how she looked, all this
sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Right, the people in the comments, those people, the people
that maybe they're bots.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
I suspect their people.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And when I saw these pictures of her at this
Victoria's Secret show, Angel Reese looked like the main character.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
She was the.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
One by a long way, and you could see it,
and it just made me so happy, because I think
once upon a time, I thought that they would both
go to the WNBA and Caitlin Clark would suck up
all of the WNBA oxygen and there wouldn't be anything
left for Angel Reese. And then because of that, then
(26:37):
all of the racist white folks who were trying to
make fun of Angel Reees would have been right. She
didn't amount to anything or whatever, right, But that hasn't
been the case. Angel Reese has staked her reputation and
given a valiant account of herself and these extra things
that she's doing, they're so specialicularly this one and her
(27:01):
kind of being the first active professional athlete to do
it feels special. And then you know the people that
were making fun of her. Everybody that tried to make
fun of Angel Reese that I saw.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Got super duper dragged badly.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Because anybody that tries to make fun of this gorgeous
woman who again looked like the main carriage, She looked
like the reason for the show. You know those people,
It has to have been a long time since those
people looked in the mirror because they weren't in a
position to make fun of anybody that she was just stunning,
and a lot of creators pointed that out. She was
(27:38):
widely celebrated. And you know, we believe in black girl
magic around here. We believe that black women are as
close to God as we can be on this planet.
We've said it before, we'll say it again, and we
can make a scientific argument toward that end. And so
whenever we get a chance to applaud someone like Angel Reese,
we do and so shout out to Angels for making
(28:01):
some my hisstory and with that in mind, that's going
to do it for us here on the QR code.
And thank you for listening. Man. We know that, man,
I promise, we wish that. We when we envision this show,
we thought this show was going to come together. We
thought we'd be in a more progressive world and it
just didn't shape up that way. But we haven't abandoned you.
(28:21):
We haven't abandoned this cause. And in fact that you
keep showing up means a lot to us. So I
want to say thank you, even if you haven't written
a letter, given us a shout out on social media,
thank you for listening. As always, today's show Who was
produced by Chris Thompson. If you haven't thought you'd like
to share, please use the red microphone talk back feature
on the iHeartRadio app, and while you're there, be sure
to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. Also,
be sure to check us out on all social media
(28:42):
at ramses or at Civic Cipher. You can find me
at Ramsey's Job.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I am qward on a social media as well
Speaker 1 (28:52):
And be sure to join us next time as we
share our news with our voice from our perspective right
here on the QR code
Still broadcasting from the Civic Cipher Studios. This is the
QR code where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes.
The man you are about to hear from is a
man with a laugh that can light up a room.
I promised, I've heard it several times. He is simply
a joy to be around. He is the Q in
the QR code.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
He goes by the name of q Board, the voice
you just heard, the kind of spiritual leader to the show.
He's talking about my laugh. He has heard it a lot.
He actually heard it one time so much that we
almost died. Yeah, I remember that, and I needed him
to let me stop laughing, and he wouldn't want him
(00:41):
to help me stop laughing, and he wouldn't, and we
almost died. And I'm not exaggerating or being hyperbotlic. I
will tell you that story one day. He is the
R in the QR code. However, he goes by the
name ramses Jah.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
And be sure to stick around.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
We're still talking about Angel Reese being the first athlete
to walk in the Victoria's Secret Runway show, black Voter
Protections being in peril, But right now it's.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Time for Q words.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Clap back as he discusses Trump's AI message showing the
utmost disrespect for US citizens. Q, you.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Know an interest.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
An interesting thing happened post no King's rally where and
I saw someone say this, and it caught me off guard.
I don't I'll have to relook it up or google it,
or maybe I'll scroll social media and see if I
can find it. But it was someone describing this AI
(01:34):
video of you know, King Trump and a fighter jet
dropping feces all over protesters. Except the caption or the
description or whatever it was said that he was dropping
feces on his enemies. And that struck me because they're
(01:57):
not enemies, they're Americans, and brought me to the question
or the statement or the thought. When the state starts
using AI to turn its own citizens into targets, I
(02:21):
guess we can stop pretending that we're at the point
where we're holding up warning signs. Because that was another
thing that I saw amidst the protests, where protesting some
of us to stop something from happen that already has.
We need to understand something. We're watching these lines be
(02:44):
crossed in real time. They're not eminent anymore. This is
here the president of the United States posted an AI
generated video of himself and a fighter jet labeled King
Trump dropping what I'll describe as brown sludge on crowds
(03:12):
of protesters, not foreign soldiers, not international adversaries, American citizens
exercising their right to protest. In the same week, the
Department of Homeland Security pushed out of a video that
(03:33):
turned a young black man, a private citizen, into a
target by misrepresenting a TikTok clip he was in. Once again,
this isn't just recklessness, this is intentional and dangerous. So
let's start with the AI bombing video. The President's video
(03:55):
AI generated propaganda, a fake not meant to fool anyone.
It looks like a fake video, but its intention is
to dehumanize the targets the president's quote unquote enemies. Picture
it if you haven't seen it. A fighter jet flying
(04:16):
overhead with a grinning President crowned like a king beneath him,
American protesters being covered in feces. This is not a joke.
I'm not making it up. This imagery is a message.
(04:37):
It tells his base, those people aren't your neighbors, they're
the enemy. It tells critics we can humiliate and target
you and laugh while we do it. That's not leadership.
That is the language of an authoritarian. Dehumanization always starts
(04:59):
as mine rockery, as a joke, something to laugh at,
so that his base can say he's just being Trump.
He doesn't mean it, that's just how he is quote
unquote locker room talk. And then the young man who
became a target now receiving death threats, a TikTok video
(05:21):
of him and his friends, not about ICE, a joke
about Iran, I believe, repurposed as a anti ICE, threatening
violent video with a new caption and pushed through on
(05:41):
official Department of Homeland Security channels suggesting that these young
black men were threatening federal agents. And just like that,
his face, not AI, his real face, his human face,
became a symbol of danger to millions of people who
(06:02):
saw the version of the video that DHS put out.
The result exactly what they hoped it would be, threats, harassment,
and fear. He didn't choose to be a part of
a national propaganda campaign. The state made him one. And
that's how fast technology and AI on a government platform
can turn an ordinary citizen into a villain and a target.
(06:25):
And this isn't just misinformation people state sponsored dehumanization. Think
about this. If the government can use AI to turn
protesters into enemies, mislabel a young man and unleash a
mob on him, then no one is safe from becoming
the next character in their narrative. This isn't and has
(06:49):
not been, about political differences. This is about power deciding
who counts as a person some rhetoric that we've heard before.
Who can be turned and to a caricature, a narrative
that we've heard before. Who can be humiliated, threatened and
erased again? Not democracy fascism with a filter and a caption.
(07:13):
Today's protesters today, it's random young black men tomorrow. Journalist,
broadcasters like myself and Ramses, a teacher, a nurse, an organizer, anyone.
The danger of AI in the hands of a government
that no longer respects democratic norms. The truth doesn't have
to be destroyed, just drowned out by a more entertaining lie.
(07:38):
And when the li is pushed from official government channels,
it carries the weight of the state behind it. Protesters
are not the enemy, and neither are young black men.
The truth is the enemy of those who seek unchecked power.
AI isn't the problem, it's the weapon, and right now
that weapon is being aimed at us.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Well. One of the things that.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I know a lot of us were looking forward to is,
you know, having an opportunity to get to the polls
and vote, and looking at the way this administration's approval
ratings have gone midterms, felt like maybe a bit of
(08:37):
respite lay on the horizon, you know, just over the
hills there. But as it turns out, black voter protections
are in peril if the Voting Rights Act is overturned.
And to be fair, there's nobody who is credible that
(09:01):
I've come across who thinks that the Voting Rights Act
has a chance of surviving this Supreme Court.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
So yeah, let's just get into it.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
This from BioNews dot com. The last major safeguard for
black voters under the Voting Rights Act may soon be eliminated,
per The Guardian. This week, the Supreme Court has signaled
that it may strike down Section two, the provision of
the VRA that prohibits rationally discriminatory voting practices, including jerrymandering,
that dilutes black political power. The Court heard oral arguments
(09:42):
in Louisiana versus Calais on Wednesday, October fifteenth, during which
conservative justices appeared poised to rule in favor of the
lawsuit brought by a group of non African American voters.
The lawsuit argues that redrawing Louisiana's congressional maps to give
black voters a second majority district, as ordered by lower
court under the VRA, violates the plaintiff's rights under the
(10:04):
fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments. Ruling in favor of the lawsuit
would effectively end federal protections against racial gerrymandering. Section two
is the last major safeguard for black voters after the
nation's highest court gutted Section five of the VRA in
twenty thirteen in Shelby County versus Holder, which had required
states with histories of voter suppression to get federal approval
(10:25):
before changing voting laws.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
The remedies are so tied up with race because race
is the initial problem, unquote, Justice Katanji Brown Jackson said
Wednesday as she pushed back against the Court's conservative majority.
Louisiana Versus. Calli's centers around the state's redistricting after the
twenty twenty census. Although Black residents make up one third
of Louisiana's population. Lawmakers drew only one majority black congressional district.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Federal courts ordered.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
The state to create a second, but the new challenge
aims to overturn that order, claiming it discriminates against white voters.
Conservative justice is argued that partisan motives, not race, justified
the map.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
I want to read that again.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Conservative justices argued that partisan motives, not race justified the map.
Their argument mirrors the twenty thirteen ruling in Shelby County
versus Holder, where Chief Justice John Roberts claimed racial discrimination
in voting had diminished. Experts warned that a ruling against
Section two would make it virtually impossible to challenge racial gerrymandering,
(11:27):
stripping black voters a meaningful legal recourse. Quote the Voting
Rights Act and forces the Fifteenth Amendment. It doesn't violate it, unquote.
Janni Nelson, president of the AACP Legal Defense Fund, set
in a statement a decision is expected by June twenty
twenty six, just months before the midterms, during which Republicans
could gain as many as nineteen House seats through racially
(11:47):
skewed maps that may no longer be subject to legal challenge.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
So yeah, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
But I want to offer something now. I don't know
how true this is, you know, it's my way to
tell you if I haven't done the research myself. But
I tend to align myself and follow reputable sources, tend
to don't always get it right. But I'm gonna share
something with you that it keeps me in this fight.
(12:22):
As I mentioned, you know, I just don't have no
quit in my heart. I'm not like, I'm just not
that person. I should have been like a big like
boxer or something like that, because I have like a
heart like that, you know, like mighty mouse man. But uh,
you know, every so often you get some encouragement and
it kind of increases the size of the fight and
(12:43):
the dog. This obviously will knock some wind out of
your sails. But the one thing that I'm holding on
too now is that a lot of the jerrymandering historically
has taken place in the South, and it has been
to the detriment of black voters. As mentioned, in Louisiana,
a third of the population is black. They only have
(13:04):
one district where they have a majority black representation. Black
people could be described as a political group because for
the most part, I mean that intentionally for the most part,
as in more than fifty one percent or more than
fifty percent.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Black voters are.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Aligned for the most part.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Okay, Black voters have spoken time and again that a
more progressive society, more inclusive society, reflects the reality in
which they want to live, and this last election I
think bears that out in the data as well, with
black men voting I think eighty three percent and black
women voting ninety two percent for the Democratic nominee, the
(13:54):
Progressive Party, the candidate that reflects their values more accurately,
more closely, and espouses the future in which black people
find themselves in a more equitable society. The thing about
these states in the South, though, is that they historically
(14:17):
have discriminated against black people. So they've already done the jerrymandering.
They've done it over and over and over again, and
they've jerry mandered about as much as they can.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Now.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
That's not to say they can't do anymore. Clearly, there's
nineteen more seats potentially available to them. But the good
news is that the blue states historically have not done this,
so there's plenty of room in blue states to offset this,
and the Supreme Court decision applies to all states. And
since they said you can do this for partisan reasons,
(14:54):
not racial reasons, meaning you can divide up the racial
makeup of the group if it serves the interest of
your party, that blows the door open, wide open for
Blue states to do the same thing. And that's where
you have a lot of population centers. You have a
lot of population. Indeed, now I don't want to be
(15:17):
obtuse I recognize that the Purple States all went for
Trump last election. They have governments in place that reflect
the the you know, the the majority in this country,
(15:38):
or at least the majority in the House, in the Senate.
And you know, I'm not sure what numbers will bear
out ultimately, but all hope is not lost. If enough
people get mad, then the voting rights protections, that's just
another hurdle to overcome. It's not impossible, just it just
(16:00):
more challenging. It's just more work. But you know, if
you're like me, and your heart don't beat fast, and
you ain't scared, and you down to get busy, what's
a little bit more hard work, right anything.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
What I've learned.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
In my time as an adult, and more in the
last ten years than any other point in my life,
is that there is a reluctance by the Democratic Party
to play by the rules that the Republicans play by.
So I would not get too excited at the idea
of Democrats doing their own version of jerrymandering to work
in their own favor, because they're too stuck in political norms,
(16:40):
and so are the citizens.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
All of the citizens you and I have.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Interviewed and looked at the data where people most harmed
and affected by police violence still think that we should
get more money to police because it makes the neighborhood safer,
because that's what they've been told, and that's what they think,
because that's the norm. They are more comfortable with the
other side being racist than being anti racists themselves because
that's the norm. There is a reluctancy for everyone to
(17:07):
hyper correct the other way, even as the other side
hyper corrects into aggressive, outward overt racism. There was a
reluctance for all people and government officials to be anti
the other direction. There is a reluctance holding on to
political norms and politeness and respectability in order to appear
(17:31):
better than the other side. So even when the other
side says we stole the election, we won't say they
stole the election because we don't like playing by their rules.
I'll say that again. Even when they say, yeah, we
rigged it and we wouldn't have won if we didn't
rig it, we still don't say, hey, they rigged it
because we are stuck to these norms. So you know,
(17:56):
it's hard for me to get hopeful around things like this,
but I guess we'll see.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Well, for our final segment, we're going to talk about
a little bit of what's going on in the entertainment world.
Angel Reese has walked in the Victoria's Secret Runway Show.
I'll jump right into it. This is from Bleacher Report,
which is a credible sort of outlet that cover sports.
(18:25):
Chicago sky star Angel Reese made history this week as
the first active professional athlete to walk in the Victoria's
Secret Fashion Show.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Reese shared photos of herself.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Walking the runway this week, as well as a video
caption forever that girl and girls and all caps and
I kind of like that. Es also marveled at how
far she'd come since working for a fast food restaurant
before beginning her college career at Maryland in twenty twenty.
Reese has previously showed an interest in fashion while starring
(18:56):
on the cover of Vogue magazine and serving on the
twenty two If I've Met Gala host committee.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
She said before the Victoria's Secret Show that.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
She had hired a modeling coach in order to help
her practice her walk ahead of her runway debut. You
want to go first?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Here que.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Any reflections on that.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
I don't mind going first. Yeah. How fitting is it
that Angel Reese.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Walked the Victoria's Secret runway with wings on her back?
Because this young woman can literally fly. There seems to
be no realm, no industry, no lane that she wants
to be in that she can't, from marketing to sneakers,
to athletics to fashion. You know, I saw one of
(19:48):
her followers, and I say that part funnily because this
person was following her even while being a kind of blatant, racist,
hypercritical person of her, telling her to pick a lane.
Do you want to be a model or do you
want to be a basketball player? And her response, first
(20:08):
of all, I don't have to pick a lane. Secondly,
the lane you want me to stay out of pays
me seven figures me being a marketable, beautiful, fashion centered,
style centered culture driver. Me helping you determine what's cool.
(20:31):
Me setting a standard and setting an example for young
ladies all over the world is a million dollar revenue
generator for me. My profession that you want me to
stick to doesn't pay like that yet. So I'm going
to do the thing that I love because I love it,
and these other things because I could make a living,
because I can pay my mom's house off. Because when
(20:55):
I become a mother, If I become a mother, I
can make decisions about where I grew, where I raise
my kids, where they grow up, how they're educated, access
to all these things that are denied to people like
me throughout the history of this country. This career path
that I've chosen and the things that I have access
to have given me access to things that would otherwise
(21:16):
be denied of me. So I know I won't choose,
I won't pick a lane. I'll use my turn signals
and get over whenever I feel. And watching her thrive
amidst people trying to make her the enemy and the
story that she did not elect to participate in, watching
her thrive despite people going out of their way to
(21:39):
put off socles in front of her and criticizing her.
You know, unfortunately, even black men using their platforms and
amplifying their voices to be critical of this young lady.
I'm proud of her. You know, we haven't had the
chance to meet her yet, but we will one day.
And just watching her navigate the spaces that she's in,
(22:02):
watching her not let the negativity overcome her and make
her a harsh, bitter person. She still smiles, she still
stops and signs all the autographs and takes all the
pictures and shouts out the little girls that buy her
dolls and her shirts and her shoes and her jerseys.
I'd love for this lady to continue to shine like
(22:23):
the star that she is, and we get to give
her a standing ovation every time because she's just breaking barriers.
There's a lot of first on her resume. She's been
the first woman and or person to do a lot
of things on this journey, and I'm looking forward to
to watching her continue to thrive.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
I wish that I knew I had as much context
for this moment as Q does, because Q typically knows
like these neat little like ancillary things about stories like this,
and I enjoy listening to them because it's like he reminds,
(23:07):
He lets me know that the story gets deeper. And
I was already excited about it, but I will offer
my I guess, my two cents. So I saw her
the pictures and I saw her kind of walking in
the show. And I remember hearing about her when she
was like first being in the w NBA or no,
(23:31):
when she was first, she was on the basketball team
and she was playing with the lady, the other lady,
and she was doing this to her finger like that,
like the ring like this, you know, and everyone said, oh,
that's so disrespectful. And people were like, oh, no, the
other lady did it to her. It was like a
(23:51):
white lady. She plays basketball too, And they were like, oh,
this white lady did it to her first, right, So
I know, I'm sorry, but just for some kind texts,
I know, I know I messed that up.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Haitlen Clark. The most famous woman basketball player is the
white lady he's talking about. And what she did was
not pointing out her ring finger. She was moving her
hand in front of her face.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Oh that was it.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Okay, Sina like you can't see me, and it was
celebrated because she was, you know, she was being brash
and she was saying it with her chest and she
was bawling. And then when Angel Reese did it back
to her, they made angel a villain for doing it.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Okay, that's what that was.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Kind of the first time we discussed her in the
story on one of our shows.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Okay, okay, So that's the that's the more accurate take.
I appreciate you, Thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Well, anyway, this is the first time I heard about
this lady, and it ended up being this thing where
people were pitting Angel Reese against Caitlyn Clark as they
both went into the w NBA. Now they're both competitors,
but a lot of people wanted it to be a
racial thing. And this was around the time when Trump
(25:03):
was kind of pursuing the White House again, and so
the racial divide in this country was deepening, and political
divide was deepening, and on and on and on. Now,
from where I sit, Caitlin Clark, the white Lady, has
handled a lot of this stuff really well. She's handled
it like a human being, not like a racist, vile
(25:24):
monster and she probably could have gotten away with that.
She's actually been a decent person as far as I know.
I don't know everything about these people, but one of
the things that I noticed was the people reacting to
Angel rees negatively, and there was not a lot of
people reacting to Caitlin Clark negatively, and so people would
(25:47):
try to make fun of Angel re saying she was ghetto,
you know, they.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Would try to talk about how she looked, all this
sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Right, the people in the comments, those people, the people
that maybe they're bots.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
I suspect their people.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And when I saw these pictures of her at this
Victoria's Secret show, Angel Reese looked like the main character.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
She was the.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
One by a long way, and you could see it,
and it just made me so happy, because I think
once upon a time, I thought that they would both
go to the WNBA and Caitlin Clark would suck up
all of the WNBA oxygen and there wouldn't be anything
left for Angel Reese. And then because of that, then
(26:37):
all of the racist white folks who were trying to
make fun of Angel Reees would have been right. She
didn't amount to anything or whatever, right, But that hasn't
been the case. Angel Reese has staked her reputation and
given a valiant account of herself and these extra things
that she's doing, they're so specialicularly this one and her
(27:01):
kind of being the first active professional athlete to do
it feels special. And then you know the people that
were making fun of her. Everybody that tried to make
fun of Angel Reese that I saw.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Got super duper dragged badly.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Because anybody that tries to make fun of this gorgeous
woman who again looked like the main carriage, She looked
like the reason for the show. You know those people,
It has to have been a long time since those
people looked in the mirror because they weren't in a
position to make fun of anybody that she was just stunning,
and a lot of creators pointed that out. She was
(27:38):
widely celebrated. And you know, we believe in black girl
magic around here. We believe that black women are as
close to God as we can be on this planet.
We've said it before, we'll say it again, and we
can make a scientific argument toward that end. And so
whenever we get a chance to applaud someone like Angel Reese,
we do and so shout out to Angels for making
(28:01):
some my hisstory and with that in mind, that's going
to do it for us here on the QR code.
And thank you for listening. Man. We know that, man,
I promise, we wish that. We when we envision this show,
we thought this show was going to come together. We
thought we'd be in a more progressive world and it
just didn't shape up that way. But we haven't abandoned you.
(28:21):
We haven't abandoned this cause. And in fact that you
keep showing up means a lot to us. So I
want to say thank you, even if you haven't written
a letter, given us a shout out on social media,
thank you for listening. As always, today's show Who was
produced by Chris Thompson. If you haven't thought you'd like
to share, please use the red microphone talk back feature
on the iHeartRadio app, and while you're there, be sure
to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. Also,
be sure to check us out on all social media
(28:42):
at ramses or at Civic Cipher. You can find me
at Ramsey's Job.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I am qward on a social media as well
Speaker 1 (28:52):
And be sure to join us next time as we
share our news with our voice from our perspective right
here on the QR code
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