Part 1 September 15, 2025. Police Shoot Black Homeowner After He Called Them for Help

Florida police shot a  Black homeowner after he called them for help. Hear more about this story on today's podcast. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Broadcasting from the Civic Cipher studios. Welcome to the QR code,
where we share perspective, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. The
man you are about to hear from is the man
who is patient with me when I call and I
don't leave a message, and then he wonders why I called,
and then calls.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Me back like why did you call? Or text me
back like why do you call? Why didn't you leave
a tech?

Speaker 1 (00:22):
And Uh, that patience really matters, because sometimes I get
lost in the sauce.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
He is the Q in the QR code. He goes
by the name of qboard.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
The boys that you just heard is the R in
the QR code. He is a man that when you
reach out your hand to shake his, he says, I hug,
as if that overpowers the fact that you shake hands,
as if both things can't be true. You now have
to hug, because I hug. The fact that you extended

(00:53):
your hand means nothing to me. That is my brother. However,
he goes by the thay ramses Jah.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
It makes me so happy to see man. I'm glad
you got home safe. Anyway, we need you guys, stick around.
We're gonna be talking about a lot today. Later in
the show, for Entertainment, we're gonna be talking about how
it's time to stop calling hip hop a young man's game.
We're all growing up. Hip hop is growing up, and
we are going to have that conversation. Before we get there,

(01:20):
we're talking about how a Fox News host said that
the government should just kill homeless people. Q War is
going to be talking to us about how mass media
is now behaving like state controlled.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Media, or his clap back. Before we get there.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
For Better, Do Better, we're talking about Paramount and how
they are condemning Israel boycott, the Israel boycott by Hollywood stars.
Prior to that, we're gonna have some opinions on a
Florida police shooting where they shot a black homeowner after
the homeowner called the police for help. And for Culture,
we're going to be talking about how the right is

(01:58):
somehow still angry before we get there. As always, it
is time to start off with a feel good feature,
and today's feel good feature comes from the ben A
federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump's attempt to remove
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook per CNN. Last week, Judge
Giacobb a Biden appointee granted Cook's request for a preliminary injunction,

(02:19):
allowing her to remain in her position while legal proceedings
continue over Trump's attempt to terminate her. A quote President
Trump has not identified anything related to Cook's conduct or
job performance that would indicate that she is harming the
board or the public interest by executing her duties unfaithfully
or ineffectively unquote, Cobb wrote in her decision. The ruling
comes weeks after Trump claimed to have fired Cook, marking

(02:41):
the first time a president as attempted to remove a
sitting FED governor. The administration has suggested that it will
appeal Cobb's decision. Cook argued that Trump's attempt to fire
her was part of a broader effort to undermine the
Federal Reserve's independence. Trump has cited alleged Morgan fraud as
cause for Cook's removal. The allegations are currently under investigation.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
By the Justice Department.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Gob sided with Cook, saying her alleged misconduct didn't meet
the threshold for removal.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Quote.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
The court finds that permissible cause for removal from a
Federal Reserve governor extends only to concerns about the board
member's ability to effectively and faithfully execute their statutory duties unquote,
Cobb wrote. Cook's legal team also argued that Trump's use
of cause to remove her would undermine long standing legal
president while a White House spokesperson, Cush Desigh said, quote,

(03:32):
this ruling will not be the last say on the matter,
and the Trump administration will continue to work to restore
accountability and confidence in the FED.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
Quote.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Trump has frequently criticized the FED for its interest rate
policies and sought to gain control over the Board of
Governors by removing appointees from the opposing party. If successful,
Austin Cook, Trump would shift the balance of the seven
member board, which currently has four governors appointed by Democratic presidents.
So another page out of Project twenty twenty five, but
for now stalled.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Okay, all right, culture, what's.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Going on in the culture? Obviously, people are still making
heads or tails of the assassination of the far right
influencer last week, and we're getting a lot of opinions,

(04:32):
we're getting a lot of takes, and we're getting a
lot of coverage. In fact, I haven't been able to
independently verify this, but I saw that the person that
was the alleged shooter actually turned himself in, which feels
like it might be true based on what I was reading,
but I haven't independently verified this.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
I want to make sure that stated clearly.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
But it'd be so weird if everyone's trying to take
credit for it, like they arrested him or something.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
But in any event, that wouldn't be weird at all. Actually,
I'd be.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
On right, right, yeah, But in any event. Two actually
came across a think piece from a dear friend of
ours and a sometimes guest on our program, joy Anne Reid,
and she's talking about how the right is still angry. Indeed,

(05:27):
I think that she's suggesting that this is kind of
this state of being for these people, And you know,
I don't know if this is their natural state of being,
and I don't know if they've been kind of whipped
into this frenzy and the powers that vc that it
works so they keep them remained in this perpetual state
of anger and frustration and confusion. But this feels like

(05:53):
an interesting take, and so I wanted to share it
with you, our listener, and you and I going to
have some conversation about it and see sort of where
we land on it, so I will share again this
from Joyanne Reid. The right is angry. They're always angry.
They've been angry since anyone can remember. They were angry

(06:15):
when the Union won the Civil War and they had
to give up their slaves. They were angry when reconstruction
gave their former slaves the right to vote. They were
angry when black soldiers came home from World War One
and World War Two and insisted on being treated with
dignity having fought for their country. They were angry about
jazz music becoming more popular, and then about rock and roll.

(06:38):
They were angry when black children tried to integrate schools.
The whole history of the American right, whether they called
themselves Democrats, Dixiecrats, or Republicans, is a history of rage
and even having quote taken back their country unquote by
putting Donald Trump back in the White House and unleashing
Project twenty twenty five on all of US, deleting Affirmative

(06:58):
Action DEI, black history, black scholarships, black held jobs in
the federal government, having driven women out of the military leadership,
and ended everything from farm subsidies to foreign aid while
getting away with an actual insurrection scot Free. They're somehow
still angry. And because Q and I work in this space,

(07:22):
and I'll speak for you Q, we know that this
is an exceptionally shortlist, exceptionally shortlist of things that.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
These people.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Find a way to be outraged about. Somehow everything is
attack on them, Everything is an attack on their values.
Somehow everything is an attack on their fiscal interests. Somehow
doing anything that helps anybody that's not them is too much.

(08:00):
But you know, bailing out corporations and all this sort
of stuff. Hey, we have to remain what It's so
strange how the justifications for the moves that they're made
are often fueled by anger. And I think that for

(08:21):
a long time I kind of suspected that it was true.
Then I started to kind of work in this space
and see that it was true consistently, and now to
see joy kind of put it on full display, Like, Okay,
here we are on the other side of Trump's election,
on the other side of the better part of better
half of Project twenty twenty five, and these folks are
like a civil war time. The calling and bomb threats

(08:44):
to HBC US on and on and on, just angry.
It's kind of a moment where I think, a sobering
moment where we recognize that there isn't there may not be.
I should say, I don't want to speak anoutes because
these are people and these are our countrymen, for better
or worse, but there may not be.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
A version of.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Reality for folks on the right and the far right
that really feels like happiness. It just is something that
is constantly elusive to them because they've already won in
the biggest possible way. And yet and still you know,
and I know what you're going to say. That's why
I'm leaving it open ended to right that. But and

(09:30):
yet and still they find a way to be angry. Q.
What's say you?

Speaker 3 (09:35):
So the interesting thing is that that list and any
list that we could make would still at least makes
sense until that last.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Bullet point right, which on slaving people was horrific.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Okay, go ahead, But something was being taken from them.
So yeah, we're not trying to discuss whether or not
they're bad people. We're just talking about how insatiable their
anger is. So they were being bad people, but something
was being taken from them, right, So, like I said,
you steal the country from people, and then you make

(10:11):
stealing illegal, so then when they try to steal it back,
you arrest them and take them to jail. That's kind
of been the rent and repeat throughout history. So all
those bullet points right given rights to black people, well,
we considered those people not people. We consider them property.
So you're giving them rights and this is zero sum

(10:32):
game that is our country. Then you're taking something from me.
So again, bad people, but they could feel justified in
their slight when something was actually when space was actually
being made for other people. The last bullet point is
the one that gets me. They won, and they won

(10:52):
the championship like they won everything, all three branches of government,
the military, law enforcement, television, radio, print, corporate America, like
they won everything. Everybody bows, it's hard for us to
buy groceries now because wait, is that story that we

(11:14):
used to get our did they? It's hard to be
what's happening in the country because that channel I used
to get my news from to.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Date fired a guy for saying the truth.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
It's hard for us to drive to and from work
now because if you get pulled over, you might no
matter where you're from, no matter where you were born,
and no matter the status of your immigration paperwork, that citizen,
resident cardholder or someone in the process is becoming either
or you might get kidnapped, beat up, unlived, deported, sexually assaulted,

(11:54):
amongst other things, and nothing can happen like they won
everything that you can win, and the most aggressive and
brute force way possible. It's getting more aggressive and more
brute force by the day, and they are still finding
a way to steal, be mad, to still feel slighted,

(12:14):
to still feel like something's being taken away from them.
They own everything, like we got a couple think Chris
Rock said, we got a couple liquor brands, and like
some headphones, and uh, you know, we got a piece
of a couple of sports teams.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
Outside of that, they own everything.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
They won. They won. The clock ran out, the movie
went off the credits roll. There was no post credits
scene where the superhero came back in and saved the day. No,
they won everything everywhere, and there's bb you're mad. It's
insatiable anger fueled by hate. And because other people will

(13:10):
always exist, they'll always be mad.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
That's what I knew you were going to say. I
knew you were going to say that I wanted you
to say, because I know it's it's the most obvious thing.
It's just as long as there are other human beings
breathing up all of their air with their wide noses,
to quote Clayton Bigsby. And I know that this is

(13:36):
partly in jest, but it really does feel that way. Man.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
We're like for people that think we're being.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
You know, hyperbolic, or we're exaggerating anything like that, I
employ you to tune into the rest of the show
because you're going to hear us make these points from
just today and yesterday's news.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
News. That's it.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
So for now, let's move on to offering our opinions
on an incident that took place. So I'm going to
share the video from this, but before we get there,
I will paint the picture.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
So this is from CBS News.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
The Orange County Sheriff's Office has released body camera video
of a deputy shooting a homeowner as he was about
to open his front door, and now the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement is investigating. Deputies responded to a home
in the twenty six hundred block of Sharing Him Road
shortly after three pm on August twenty three after a
report of a home invasion. The Sheriff's office said a

(14:41):
preliminary investigation showed the victim, a man in his forties,
fired shots at four suspects who were attempting to break
into his home before deputies arrived. The four suspects fled
on foot. When deputies got to the scene, the victim
went to unlock the door, and one of the deputies
accidentally discharged his firearms, striking the man. According to the

(15:04):
Sheriff's office, he was taken to a hospital with injuries
described as not life threatening, and he was released the
same day. So let me, uh give you a little
bit on kind of what that sounds like.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
Right, Hey, I did to shoot you. I do not.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
I do not.

Speaker 4 (15:36):
Anybody heard that wasn't come outside.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
The air, Stay off the air, Okay.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
So you see that that was a very traumatic moment
for the homeowner. Uh, I mean, you heard what happened.
They immediately went into like police cover up mode, you know,
stay off the air, you know. Uh. There was the

(16:31):
one officer that was saying, Yo, it wasn't me, I
didn't I didn't shoot you, not not implying that it
was the officer whose vantage point reviewing from that actually
did the shooting. And immediately it's like, we don't want
to touch this anymore, as opposed to like, Yo, let's
get this guy some help, but that sort of thing, right,

(16:54):
I'll finish reading this article and then Q, we'll get
your your early thoughts here. The deputy, identified as Alexis Paul,
has been relieved of law enforcement duty and temporarily reassigned
to an administrative role. The Sheriff's office said Paul has
been with the agency since September twenty twenty two and
works as a patrol deputy. There are no updates in
the home invasion case. Authority said, Q. Let's get you

(17:17):
to weigh in first here.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
When I was when I was a young man, I
would go to my mother's hometown every summer and I
will work in our family restaurant age and h Soul
Food and Macon, Georgia not an ad by the way,
that's my my.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Family's actual restaurant. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
And after work, because all of us worked there, we
would go back to either my grandmother's house or my
aunt's house. I remember playing in the living room one
day and someone broke something and everybody.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Bounced to the ounce shout out to Zap and Roger.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
Because no one wanted to stick around for the consequence
except one of the cousins lives there, so he couldn't bounce.
There was no ounce for him to bounce to. I'm
listening to this and watching the video. I'm surprised they

(18:30):
didn't all just bounce and leave the one officer there like,
hey man, that.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Like he dropped something and broke it.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
I'm surprised everybody else didn't just bounce because the other
officer repeating he it wasn't me, like he didn't know,
it was the gentleman next to him, like I'm not
getting in trouble for this, and everybody went into I'm
not getting in trouble for this mode, and the guy
who had just shot him really couldn't because you want

(18:58):
everybody's body came a shooting him. So it was just
one of those moments where there's never any accountability, but
they're so afraid of accountability they go into how do
I not get in trouble mode immediately, even though there's
supposed to be public service looking after the best interest

(19:20):
of the public, like not, let's get a medic immediately
because I just shot someone by mistake. Everybody just pretend
it didn't happen. Everyone heard the gun go off, everyone
knows the man is shot. Everyone except for the man
that got shot, is acting like hey, I say, hey,

(19:43):
wasn't me?

Speaker 2 (19:45):
Just straight shaggy mode.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
Very very strange video to watch, because, like you said,
that officer keeps repeating it wasn't me in a way
that and forgive me for laughing, that's saying, you know,
I kind of know who it was.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Was me, bro I don't put my gun out after
he is, but I know who money is it? There
you go, there you go. So those just a very.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Very this is this is it's almost become comic relief
now that this is how they treat the public that
they're supposed to be sworn to protect and serve.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
So, if I may, uh, this incident shows, I think
a reality that this country has is having a tough
time coming to terms with, is that there's a lot
of prejudice in policing, prejudice based on.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
Fear or prejudice for prejudice's sake, either one.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Whichever conversation you're willing to have, I could debate you
and I could beat you. Do guns go off accidentally,
Sure they do. People are people, People are flawed, so
people get nervous. But I suspect that people are more

(21:14):
nervous around black people. Police are more nervous around black
people than they are around white folks. Now, there are
people that would argue with me to say, well, it's
black people's fall, blah blah blah, and I could have
that argument. It's a separate argument, but I could have
the argument that it's actually not, and I could beat you.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
But the fact is is that I remember in the
early days.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Of my kind of working with the NAACP and the
Black Student Union when I was in college of knowing
about this idea of community policing. If there are black
police officers in black neighborhoods, they might not be beholden
to the same prejudices, which maybe there's an argument to
be had there, but we haven't seen any significant results
in the data. Policing is just taught. It teaches b

(22:00):
how to protect themselves from the public, is basically what
it boils down to, right, And with that kind of
officer first training instead of public first training, officers are
taught to fear everything in the public. So pulling out
your gun and pointing it at the door when you're
asking the homeowner that called you to step outside after

(22:21):
he said, Hey, these guys were in my house and
they ran away. I shot at them. In Florida, you
can do that. No, No, the laws are broken. The
good guys here lives in this house wearing this. If
you come and investigate what happened, we'll be here. The
officer walks up to the door, gun's drawn. Come outside
of the house, all right, brawn Okay. So there's that,

(22:45):
and then, as I mentioned, the police immediately going to
cover up mode. Right, So obviously, as you mentioned Q,
no one wants to take accountability for it, like, hey, bro,
that wasn't me, but with't me. But you hear toward
the end of the audio there that there was a
woman's voice that was kind of starting that sort of
let's cover let's let's get you protected and insulated from

(23:07):
the consequences, right, And because we cover a lot, we
can't cover every single one of them. But that's kind
of what we do for Civic Cipher, that's what we do,
is we cover police misconduct. That's kind of the whole thing.
And political disenfranchisement, so we see that as standard practice.
They know how to shoot that gun, and they know
how to cover it up. They know how to protect themselves,

(23:29):
they know how to protect their interests and none of
that has to do with serving the public. And so
to hear it on a camera, you know, I have
to ask, like, how in the world do police not
realize that we don't rock with them, We don't want
to cooperate with them, none of that stuff, because they
they don't represent the interests of our people. There was

(23:51):
I got a notification and said, you can help the FBI.
S Why I want to help the FBI do nothing?
You know what I mean? And I think that attitude
is quite prevalent and has been for some time because
of behavior like this. Moving on, better, do better, Paramount,
Let's get to it, all right. Paramount condemns Israel boycott

(24:14):
by Hollywood stars. All right, this is from I gotta
find the source for this, so give me a second.
But Paramount has denounced a pledge signed by Mark Ruffalo,
Emma Stone and more than four thousand other Hollywood talent
vowing to boycott Israeli film institutions and the Middle Eastern

(24:36):
countries military campaign in Gaza. Joker star Joaquin Phoenix and
White Lotus actress Amy lu Wood were among the names
on the September eighth pledge condemning Israel for its assault
that the Gaza Health Ministry says has killed more than
sixty four thousand people since October twenty twenty three. In
September and a September twelfth statement reported by Reuters, Paramount

(24:57):
became the first major studio to address theoycott shared by
advocacy group Film Workers for Palestine. Quote, we do not
agree with recent efforts to boycott Israeli filmmakers. Silencing individual
creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better
understanding or advance the cause of peace, Paramount said, go

(25:17):
on to say, we need more engagement in communication, not less.
Responding to Paramount statement, Film Workers for Palestine criticized the
studio for possibly intentionally misrepresenting the pledge in an attempt
to silence our colleagues in the film industry.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Quote, such a move would.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Only shield a genocidal regime from criticism at a time
when global outrage is exponentially growing, and while meaningful steps
toward accountability are being taken away by many, film Workers
for Palestine wrote and a statement shared on social media.
The organization also called out multi billionaire Larry Ellison for
an alleged close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahoo,

(25:55):
and applauded the thousands of filmmakers that joined in making
a collective morals stand. Oh, it was USA today, So
this is where these words come from. USA Today has
reached out to paramount for common.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
So why.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Why is this better? Do better?

Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, this is you know, four thousand actors, actresses, filmmakers,
et cetera, calling on the film industry to use their
power and their influence to put pressure on whatever powers

(26:37):
that be to end the campaign in Gaza and save
what Palestinians are left alive left this these four thousand people,
you know, I don't know. I haven't been in all
these people's minds, but effectually they are affirming that the

(27:00):
Palestinians left on this planet are precious and deserve to
be here, and Israel's search for the handful of Palestinians
that might be affiliated with what they consider to be
a terrorist group is not worth the systemic execution of

(27:23):
human beings from the nation State of Palestine and the
ethnic cleansing the Nation State of Palestine, and Paramount intentionally
mischaracterized the petition signed by these four thousand creatives, actresses, actors, filmmakers, etc.
They intentionally mischaracterize the petition, then attacked the mischaracterization so

(27:49):
as to have some solid ground to stand on. And
this indeed feels like a page out of the right
wing handbook, not Trump's handbook, because I don't know that
he's I know that he does this, but I don't
think that he does this because he's intelligent. I think

(28:11):
he only has a mischaracterization of certain things and a
very limited view of many things. But there are a
lot of people on the right who actually are intelligent.
And I believe it's like a straw man argument. They
kind of state your argument back to you in terms

(28:31):
that don't that aren't necessarily true to the nature the
thrust of your you know, your statement, and then they
poke holes in their interpretation or their misinterpretation of what
it is that you said. And so I feel like
Paramount is going to need these artists and these actors
and actresses to continue to make films. They're in a

(28:52):
position to be one of the great champions of humanity
in this moment, and they've taken this route and they
better do better. Que the last minute is yours. I'm
sorry I talk so much, but anything you have to
add yours the foremost. You're not sorry, I am. I
I wish we had more time. Secondly, yeah, we have
the same amount of time every show.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
I had to say that.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
It's like you and I having a conversation with someone
and saying I want to protect everything in my house,
and then a woman saying, oh, so you're comparing women
to objects in your house.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah, exactly, And now you're like what.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
And now she has the argument to destroy you and
make you look like a bad guy, and you're.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Like, that's not what I said.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
That's not what I said or what I meant. But
now you've said it like it is, and now you
have a swelling of other people who are also mad
at me for objective finding women in my house. And
it's like, ah, that's not what I said or what
I meant.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
H