July 21, 2025 • 28 mins
On part 2 of today's podcast , Hosts Ramses Ja and Q Ward tackle the topic of racism in Country music.
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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.
He is the Q in q ward. He is the
sun of reverends Ella Seacrest, and she raised him right.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
He's Q word. He is the R in the QR code.
He is the one with the golden voice and the
one that is so famous, so popular, so effervescent. I
know what you're gonna say that we get collectively called
Ramsey's job when traveling throughout the United Store. You're funny, all.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Right, stick around, We got more show in store for you.
We are going to be talking about a video of
a Chilean woman arrested on the New York City street,
leaving her child abandoned. It was very disturbing. We're also
gonna be talking about whether or not the taste makers
behind country music are racist. Got some evidence that suggests
that might be true. But first it is time to
(00:59):
hear from q W as he explains how Republicans have
only been wearing the Constitution as a costume.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
The Constitution is a costume. Now we've discussed how the
right likes to call themselves patriots. They've kind of co
opted and taken over ownership of the American flag, Like
I know people that see that flag and feel triggered.
Now that feel uncomfortable. Now, Yeah, they have their pocket constitutions,
(01:30):
their little pronounce they quote the Founding Fathers like scripture.
But here we are watching everything that they claimed to
cherish get trampled, and suddenly the people who scream the
loudest about liberty are nowhere to be found. So let's
talk about that right, the Second Amendment. How often have
(01:51):
you heard the right speak up about the Second Amendment,
even when children are being killed in schools, we speak
about gun control, they will not stand for it because
they are Second Amendment absolutist. Remember how sacred the second
minute the Second Amendment was to them, or is to them.
(02:12):
Until you know Filando Castile, a legal black gun owner
gets murdered in front of his partner and his child
because he has a gun. No outrage from them, no
outrage from the NRA. The First Amendment, freedom of speech,
and the right to peaceful assembly, they were all for that.
(02:36):
You know, when armed white men stormed the Capitol and
camo and body armor. They cheer when hate groups with
tiki torches, march through college child screaming Jews will not
replace us. White supremacist militias show up in full tactical gear,
and not only are they not met with any resistance
from law enforcement, rams and I have seen them get
(02:57):
almost police escorts back to their vehicles after but peaceful
protesters are kettled, tear gassed, and beaten. Ramson and I
also watched a video of a journalist getting shot with
a rubber bullet on camera while doing nothing but cover
a protest. Entire city blocks are militarized and response to
(03:21):
us was just signs and chance. And yet again, the
free speech crowd says nothing when amendments become inconvenient, because
that's like our reality now. The fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal
protection under the law. It's the foundation of civil rights.
(03:45):
But where are the patriots? Where are the constitution bearers?
When black voters get purged from rolls, when immigrants are
detained without due process, when LGBTQ kids are stripped of
their protections and their dignity. Yeah, and oh my god,
(04:10):
they don't quote the Constitution, then they quote their favorite
Fox News commentator. The twenty second Amendment you know, the
one that limits a president to two terms. Yeah, have
you seen the new hats? Rams? What do they say?
Trump twenty eight Wow? Sitting lawmakers on camera wearing these
(04:35):
hats just for one day, they say, And this is
how authoritarianism starts. The truth is they don't love the Constitution.
They love and are enamored with power, and they'll trade
every amendment and every line of the Constitution so they
(04:59):
can have more of rams. And I are pretty clear
on this, but we'd love for everybody to be a
bit more honest. Freedom for all was never for everybody.
They look around to their left and the right, their
family and their friends, and its freedom for me and
freedom for mine. They invoked the Founders, but ignore that
(05:22):
the Founders also made amendments to expand freedom. They quote
the Bible but skip the part about feeding the poor
and loving your neighbor. If they really cared about constitutional principles,
they defend them for people they disagree with, but instead
they strip away rights from women, the poor, immigrants, protesters, teachers,
(05:45):
and yes, journalists. And when the law is applied with
kindness for hate groups and cruelty for truth tellers, that
is not patriotism. That's entitlement wearing a uniform. So here's
what we're not going to do. We're not going to
let people cause play ass patriots while they burn the
(06:07):
Constitution in broad daylight. If your loyalty to the Constitution
ends or your party's discomfort begins, you were never defending liberty.
You were only defending your own privilege. The Constitution is
not a flag that you get to wear when it
suits you. It's a contract what Rams and I would
(06:30):
view as a covenant. It's meant to protect all of us.
And if you only cit it when it shields your bigotry,
your silence, or your stronghold grip on power, then be honest.
It was never about freedom, It was never about the law.
(06:50):
It was never even about the country. It was about
control and your flag. As I said, it's just a costume.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I want to provide just a little bit of context
for the little comment I made. We came across a
story where there was this town in Florida or some
city in Florida, and they weren't going to receive any
money unless they erased the Rainbow crosswalk and like a
gay district that they had, the federal government weren't going
(07:29):
to release funds to them unless they got rid of
that crosswalk, and that felt super weird, and we were
hurt on behalf of the lgbt Q I A plus
community down there in Florida. I forget the name of
the city, but just providing some context because I know
that might have sounded like a random comment.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
And I also want to say before we move on on,
you know, freedom of press was a thing once upon
a time. Two rams now Joanne Reed, Stephen Colbert silenced
off the air without a whisper from you know, the
Constitution party. Here we are.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Fortunately, we've got some people on our end that are
still fighting for us, some pretty powerful lawyers and a
whole team of them.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
All right, moving on, let's have some dialogue about this
video of the Chilean woman arrested on the New York
City street, leaving her child abandoned. Okay, you may have
seen this video. You may not have seen this video.
I saw this video. Q saw this video. I had
millions of people saw this video. And normally we I mean,
(08:42):
we do talk about videos, but videos rarely make their
way to our.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Shows.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
You know, usually videos or something that supports some data
that exists or some some news coverage or something like that. Right,
we're able to kind of provide a journalistic some journalistic
insight into the video. But in this case, the video
(09:09):
was so disturbing because and I'll just describe it to you.
I know, this is you know, audio, so you can't
really see the video here. But there's a woman and
she's being arrested by NYPD, and she seems like very
confused at the beginning, like why are what's going on here?
(09:30):
And then when it becomes very obvious that all of
these officers are going to be taking her away, she
starts yelling mea meaning like my daughter. You know, she
keeps saying it over and over again, my daughter, and
then she starts screaming it loudly. And you know, New York,
you know, people are still going about their business, but
this actually starts to draw a bit of a crowd.
(09:52):
And then the daughter's just kind of standing there, and
I think there was a man that kind of kind
of carroused the daughter up and kind of walks over
to where the police are arresting the mother. They're just
they have her handcuff, they're walking her to a car.
So this man brings a daughter and he says to
the officers in English, He's like, hey, so this is
her daughter. What are you guys going to do about
(10:12):
her daughter? Or something like that, Right, But what really sticks
with people, I think who watch this video are the
whales of this woman. She's just wailing and it's like that,
like soul disturbing whale of a mother being separated from
her child. Very few things sound like that. That's got
(10:33):
to be the worst pain because of how it sounds
coming from a human voice. Right, I don't know that
I hear sounds that feel more agonizing than that, feel
more fearful terrified. So obviously you and I we we
had this in our in our you know, pre production chat,
(10:56):
and looking into it, I'm like, what is going on here?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
You know?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And my is Okay, let's see what's going on here,
because in the caption says that she was a on
a tourist visa and that Ice had rounded her up
and was deporting her and her daughter was just left
on the street, right, And when you watch the video,
seems very clear you're certain that that's exactly what's happening.
(11:21):
Given the state of this country, but we don't get
to play by those rules. We have to like certainly
go and flesh it out, just make sure we have
you know, everything like that. So we did a little
bit of research here and I'll share what we found
from Snopes. In an email in New York Police Department
spokesperson said the incident in the video began with a
(11:43):
larceny at Sunglass Hut on Avenue of the Americas, where
four men allegedly stole fifty three pairs of sunglasses valued
at approximately thirty two thousand dollars. Officers later spotted a
suspect matching the description at a thirty fourth Street and
Seventh Avenue at thirty four Street in seventh Avenue. When
they attempted to arrest him, according to the NYPD spokesperson quote,
(12:07):
an unknown female approached the officers and made multiple attempts
to prevent the officers from affecting the arrest. NYPD identified
the woman in the video as Javiera Andrea Montero del
a thirty three year old Chilean national legally residing in
the United States with her family. So it turns out
(12:28):
that you know, the NYPD at least is saying that
this is not an ICE arrest. Later in the article
had said that the daughter was reunited with her at
the police station. Not sure how they pulled that off,
because they certainly put the mom in the car and
left the daughter on the street, but you know, this
is what they're saying, and so after that, it's like, Okay,
(12:49):
that's a disturbing video. Certainly shows kind of where we
are as a country. But Q made a point. He
said that the reason why we're reacting that way is
because of what ICE agents have been able to do.
The reason we're reacting that way is because due process
(13:13):
doesn't exist anymore in this country. And I don't care
who you are, if you're a human being with a
beating heart and a modicum of empathy, you see this
woman and you feel horrified. You feel like heartbroken for
her because whatever it is that came before this video,
you see her being separated from her daughter, who is
(13:35):
a child, being left on the sidewalk in New York City.
So I want you to jump in here, que because
I don't want to talk up all the time, but
I just wanted to make sure I painted the picture
the right way. So you're part of the dialogue.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yeah, I mean it's a really difficult thing to try
to unpack because, like you said, the lack of due
process and the acceleration of a numbers driven assault on
black and brown people. It's not about legality or immigration status.
It's about black and brown people. This is not happening
and happening in communities where the people that are immigrants
(14:13):
are also white. Yeah. Yeah, that's fair having to deal
with them overstaying their visas or not having their citizenship
done because they're arresting people at the courts that are
going through the proper processes. They're arresting, detaining, and deporting
citizens because of how they look or the language that
they speak. Right, So, because that mayhem is happening in
(14:33):
the streets and people are watching both plane closed and
now we've been seeing more of local and state level
police departments helping ice carry out these raids and these arrests.
So when it all looks the same, how does the
public know what to do? Like, once upon a time,
(14:54):
people would have never interfered with police arresting someone that
appeared to be a criminal. But once you realize the
police are arresting, beating up, detaining, kidnapping and disappearing American citizens,
foreign nationals, tourist, permanent residents, and people going through the
proper immigration process at immigration hearings. Then it's just licensed terror.
(15:19):
And people at some point are not going to just
keep watching their neighbors, their friends, and their coworkers be
kidnapped by police officers. So they're creating a problem for
themselves because at some point you're in pursuit of arresting
or detaining and an actual criminal, but it'll look just
like when you were arresting, detaining, deporting, kidnapping and disappearing
(15:39):
innocent people. And when people don't know the difference, what
are they supposed to do, And there's no way you
can excuse this child being left alone, you know, like
they're just the humanity has just disappeared. Like we've had
conversations about human being before officer, or at least human
(15:59):
being being while officer, and it's now just officer. The
human being part doesn't exist, and they're going to now
because of the way that they're recruiting embolden bullies, people
who would love a license, a badge and a gun
and a sanction to just go be mean and criminally
racist to people they don't like, the people that don't
(16:22):
look like them. They're inviting and have a recruiting process
that's going to attract the worst of us to get
into these positions of authority and power and flatly abuse it.
And it's encouraged. This is the country that we live in.
And you know, I've had these conversations with you off Mike.
It's remaining here is starting to become a fool's mission,
(16:46):
Like I don't know what to say to people anymore.
Every day it gets worse, and again, no one's coming
to save us.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
The one thing that I'm hoping for, fingers crossed, is
that the country has as a whole moved far enough
along to fight back against what ultimately became our new normal.
(17:23):
And while these incidents are disturbing, I think you're right.
You know, these ice folks in this government are making
problems for itself, and in the next three and a
half years things might reach a fever pitch, they might
reach a boiling point where it's kind of those of
us that liked the Obama years and tolerated the first
(17:47):
you know, Trump years versus those who are comfortable with
what Trump is doing right now, which I'd imagine is
less people overall because he got a lot of votes.
But I don't know that everybody voted for this stuff,
So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Moving on.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
In Entertainment News, we asked the question, are the taste
makers behind country music racist? We talk a lot about
race on this show. In a better world, we wouldn't
have to. In a better world, we would be able
to talk about music and movies and you know, things
(18:29):
that are moving the culture along and share our opinions
with you know, politics, of course, but you know, also
share more personal stories. But we're in a very racialized
time and we have to talk about stories like this,
So I'll get right into it. From the Black Information Network,
(18:55):
country music star Kane Brown has opened up about the
racism he experienced during the early days of his career.
During a recent appearance on Logan Paul's Impulsive podcast, Brown
revealed that songwriters in the country music circles refused to
work with him because he was black. Quote oh yeah,
Brown said, when asked if he had face racism in
the industry. Quote I remember. I ain't going to say
(19:18):
a name because I don't want to throw him under
the bus. But there was one writer that said he
wouldn't write with me because I'm black unquote. Brown said
he later confronted the writer, who apologized to him in
a bar. However, the country music star noted that the
incident wasn't a one off. Quote, there's another big writer
who had like thirty number ones that said the same
thing unquote, Brown recalled. The singer explained that these incidents
(19:42):
occurred during the early stages of his career, when he
was sharing covers on Facebook and before he received major
label deals and platinum records. Brown, whose albums have landed
in the top five US charts since twenty sixteen, recalled
the big writer backtracking on his comments when his career
began to grow. Quote, he apologized whenever we blew up
and was trying to write with me, But I said noote.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Brown said, all right, so.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
That is one person's story, right, Q, and I wouldn't
dedicate a segment entitled are the taste makers behind Country
Music racist? Based on one person's experience, but you know what,
we were talking and Q reminded me that T Pain
(20:30):
said something very similar last year, and I went back
to look and sure enough it was there from Billboard magazine.
I'll just share the headline, but yeah. Twenty twenty four,
T Pain says he's removed his songwriting credits from country
songs due to racism. And there's a quote, I'll just
take the check. Don't put me on that expletive deleted unquote,
(20:53):
he said in a TikTok and I remember this story.
We actually talked about it where t Pain was like, yeah, man,
it is not cool over there. Those people. You can
feel it. He's like, look, don't put my name on it.
If it's going to start any trouble. Just send me
to money.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
I'm good over where I'm at. Right, So, now you
have Tea Pain and you have Caine Brown. Okay, but
usually that's not enough either. But naturally, because we talked
about Beyonce and her country album and the waves that
(21:32):
it made, I feel compelled to share from the BBC
in September of twenty twenty four, Beyonce has been snubbed
by the Country Music Awards despite having one of the
biggest country hits of the year with Texas Hold Them.
When the nominees for the ceremony were announced on Monday morning,
the star was notably absent, but not a single nomination.
(21:53):
Beyonce had widely been expected to gain recognition at the awards,
with fans speculating she could become the first black woman
to be sure listed for Album of the Year for
Cowboy Carter. So now you have three different experiences of
people working in the country music scene, all black, all
(22:15):
kind of subjected to the forces of racism, and it's
being discussed. So now I think we get to ask
the question, are the taste makers behind country music racist?
Do you want to jump on this first?
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Sometimes we ask questions in good faith because we have to,
but we already know the answer, and it's it's those
times are difficult for me because it's hard for me
to pretend not to. The answer to so many questions
(22:56):
is racist. So many is racism. Flatly, people are tired
of hearing that, and I say it that they're tired
of hearing it is because the actual apology and the
actual repair never happened and never will. They just want
us to get over it and move on, while also
(23:19):
not changing anything. Because I think even without reparations and
even without proper acknowledgment, if they just stop being racist,
it'd be a bit easier to get over it and
get past it, but they won't. All of the institutions,
all of the corporations, Like we're watching rollbacks on DEI,
(23:41):
We're watching people flip flop on their opinions of this administration.
I'm seeing people that we once called allies, people like
Bill Maher, people like Colin Cowherd, who broke my heart
either today or yesterday on the Stephen Colbert story calling
him a a a leftist hack or something like that,
(24:03):
and I was like, Wow, Colin Cowherd has been one
of my favorite people in sports media for twenty years
and has always been a loud voice, seemingly as an ally,
just like Bill Maher was once upon a time. But
what you step back and realize is that rich white
men tend to think like and protect one another when
(24:27):
it comes down to it, in an effort to stand
with I'm guessing next to or not make his other
rich white friends uncomfortable. People are just taking really really
interesting stanzas now. So when you see bodies of music
start changing the way that they do their awards, when
you see the Academy create a new category for country
(24:48):
music so that legacy acts can feel safe that the
new brown people won't come and take their category over.
You see these changes in these ships being made that
have never been made before. We don't have to ask
that if or I guess you know, we have to
say things like alleged and the spaces that we work in.
(25:11):
But it's not actually in good face to wonder if
these institutions are racist when they go so far out
of there, out of their way to remind us that
they are.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
You know what, let's go all right, watch this action Bronson, Eminem,
Beastie Boys, MGK, Post Malone, Jack Harlow, Yellowolf Gezy Logic
ASoP Rock, Mac Miller, h Vanilla White or Vanilla Ice.
I mean to say, uh, Paul Wall, who else, Bubba Sparks,
(25:53):
I could go on. These are all white rappers, right,
all got love? You know all you know, embraced, you
make don't forget Mackelemore, Macael Dad not say Mackelmore n
F that did not? Okay, I know I'm missing a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Hold on.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Top fifty white rapp Now, any of these people, any
of these people who are these country music purists, I'm
sure that they would have an issue if there were
fifty and This is just the top fifty list that
I have here. Any of these people would have an
(26:36):
issue if there were fifty country music singers that were black, right.
I know that because they have an issue with there
being two. Because T Payne is not a country singer.
He just writes, he just was writing at that point
country music.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Well, now you have Beyonce, Kane Brown, and Shaboozi Shaboozi.
There you go. So there's three, there's three, there's and
there's more. Or I don't want us to sound ignorant,
there's more, but you would know.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Better than me. You would know better than me. But
I definitely know those three. Yeah, and you are you
right there? There's a there's a handful more. But the
people in hip hop, they're embraced. You know Brother Ali,
like I know Brother Ali. You know, I met him
a bunch of times. I remember, Man, what a long list,
A little Zanne, little Peep, all these guys. Okay, jelly Roll,
(27:23):
Oh my god, jelly Roll to Pitbull. Well Pible's not white,
but you know what I'm saying. Iggy Azalea, she had
she had a moment in the sun. Anyway, I think
that that racism street is really just these people kind
of with their head in this hand. Uh. And it's
(27:44):
heartbreaking that you know there are people who are still
like this. But I mean, I guess this is the
last like hold out for racist people. I'm sure racist
people listen to country music more than they listen to
other types of music because it's probably consistent with their lifestyle,
you know, out on the prairie or not in a
(28:06):
big city.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
So in any event, here's hoping things get better. That's
the best we can do. But for now, we'll just
leave it all right here. That's going to do it
for us on the QR Code. Today Show is produced
as always by Chris Thompson. If you haven't thought you'd
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be sure to check us out on all social media
(28:28):
at Civic Cipher civ I c C I p H
E R I have been your host. You can find
me on all social media at rams' Jah. He has
been your host. You can find me at I am
q born on all social media. But I just work
here it's the QR code. We both just work here,
(28:51):
and we both don't host. Don't let them pulll you,
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.
He is the Q in q ward. He is the
sun of reverends Ella Seacrest, and she raised him right.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
He's Q word. He is the R in the QR code.
He is the one with the golden voice and the
one that is so famous, so popular, so effervescent. I
know what you're gonna say that we get collectively called
Ramsey's job when traveling throughout the United Store. You're funny, all.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Right, stick around, We got more show in store for you.
We are going to be talking about a video of
a Chilean woman arrested on the New York City street,
leaving her child abandoned. It was very disturbing. We're also
gonna be talking about whether or not the taste makers
behind country music are racist. Got some evidence that suggests
that might be true. But first it is time to
(00:59):
hear from q W as he explains how Republicans have
only been wearing the Constitution as a costume.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
The Constitution is a costume. Now we've discussed how the
right likes to call themselves patriots. They've kind of co
opted and taken over ownership of the American flag, Like
I know people that see that flag and feel triggered.
Now that feel uncomfortable. Now, Yeah, they have their pocket constitutions,
(01:30):
their little pronounce they quote the Founding Fathers like scripture.
But here we are watching everything that they claimed to
cherish get trampled, and suddenly the people who scream the
loudest about liberty are nowhere to be found. So let's
talk about that right, the Second Amendment. How often have
(01:51):
you heard the right speak up about the Second Amendment,
even when children are being killed in schools, we speak
about gun control, they will not stand for it because
they are Second Amendment absolutist. Remember how sacred the second
minute the Second Amendment was to them, or is to them.
(02:12):
Until you know Filando Castile, a legal black gun owner
gets murdered in front of his partner and his child
because he has a gun. No outrage from them, no
outrage from the NRA. The First Amendment, freedom of speech,
and the right to peaceful assembly, they were all for that.
(02:36):
You know, when armed white men stormed the Capitol and
camo and body armor. They cheer when hate groups with
tiki torches, march through college child screaming Jews will not
replace us. White supremacist militias show up in full tactical gear,
and not only are they not met with any resistance
from law enforcement, rams and I have seen them get
(02:57):
almost police escorts back to their vehicles after but peaceful
protesters are kettled, tear gassed, and beaten. Ramson and I
also watched a video of a journalist getting shot with
a rubber bullet on camera while doing nothing but cover
a protest. Entire city blocks are militarized and response to
(03:21):
us was just signs and chance. And yet again, the
free speech crowd says nothing when amendments become inconvenient, because
that's like our reality now. The fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal
protection under the law. It's the foundation of civil rights.
(03:45):
But where are the patriots? Where are the constitution bearers?
When black voters get purged from rolls, when immigrants are
detained without due process, when LGBTQ kids are stripped of
their protections and their dignity. Yeah, and oh my god,
(04:10):
they don't quote the Constitution, then they quote their favorite
Fox News commentator. The twenty second Amendment you know, the
one that limits a president to two terms. Yeah, have
you seen the new hats? Rams? What do they say?
Trump twenty eight Wow? Sitting lawmakers on camera wearing these
(04:35):
hats just for one day, they say, And this is
how authoritarianism starts. The truth is they don't love the Constitution.
They love and are enamored with power, and they'll trade
every amendment and every line of the Constitution so they
(04:59):
can have more of rams. And I are pretty clear
on this, but we'd love for everybody to be a
bit more honest. Freedom for all was never for everybody.
They look around to their left and the right, their
family and their friends, and its freedom for me and
freedom for mine. They invoked the Founders, but ignore that
(05:22):
the Founders also made amendments to expand freedom. They quote
the Bible but skip the part about feeding the poor
and loving your neighbor. If they really cared about constitutional principles,
they defend them for people they disagree with, but instead
they strip away rights from women, the poor, immigrants, protesters, teachers,
(05:45):
and yes, journalists. And when the law is applied with
kindness for hate groups and cruelty for truth tellers, that
is not patriotism. That's entitlement wearing a uniform. So here's
what we're not going to do. We're not going to
let people cause play ass patriots while they burn the
(06:07):
Constitution in broad daylight. If your loyalty to the Constitution
ends or your party's discomfort begins, you were never defending liberty.
You were only defending your own privilege. The Constitution is
not a flag that you get to wear when it
suits you. It's a contract what Rams and I would
(06:30):
view as a covenant. It's meant to protect all of us.
And if you only cit it when it shields your bigotry,
your silence, or your stronghold grip on power, then be honest.
It was never about freedom, It was never about the law.
(06:50):
It was never even about the country. It was about
control and your flag. As I said, it's just a costume.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I want to provide just a little bit of context
for the little comment I made. We came across a
story where there was this town in Florida or some
city in Florida, and they weren't going to receive any
money unless they erased the Rainbow crosswalk and like a
gay district that they had, the federal government weren't going
(07:29):
to release funds to them unless they got rid of
that crosswalk, and that felt super weird, and we were
hurt on behalf of the lgbt Q I A plus
community down there in Florida. I forget the name of
the city, but just providing some context because I know
that might have sounded like a random comment.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
And I also want to say before we move on on,
you know, freedom of press was a thing once upon
a time. Two rams now Joanne Reed, Stephen Colbert silenced
off the air without a whisper from you know, the
Constitution party. Here we are.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Fortunately, we've got some people on our end that are
still fighting for us, some pretty powerful lawyers and a
whole team of them.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
All right, moving on, let's have some dialogue about this
video of the Chilean woman arrested on the New York
City street, leaving her child abandoned. Okay, you may have
seen this video. You may not have seen this video.
I saw this video. Q saw this video. I had
millions of people saw this video. And normally we I mean,
(08:42):
we do talk about videos, but videos rarely make their
way to our.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Shows.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
You know, usually videos or something that supports some data
that exists or some some news coverage or something like that. Right,
we're able to kind of provide a journalistic some journalistic
insight into the video. But in this case, the video
(09:09):
was so disturbing because and I'll just describe it to you.
I know, this is you know, audio, so you can't
really see the video here. But there's a woman and
she's being arrested by NYPD, and she seems like very
confused at the beginning, like why are what's going on here?
(09:30):
And then when it becomes very obvious that all of
these officers are going to be taking her away, she
starts yelling mea meaning like my daughter. You know, she
keeps saying it over and over again, my daughter, and
then she starts screaming it loudly. And you know, New York,
you know, people are still going about their business, but
this actually starts to draw a bit of a crowd.
(09:52):
And then the daughter's just kind of standing there, and
I think there was a man that kind of kind
of carroused the daughter up and kind of walks over
to where the police are arresting the mother. They're just
they have her handcuff, they're walking her to a car.
So this man brings a daughter and he says to
the officers in English, He's like, hey, so this is
her daughter. What are you guys going to do about
(10:12):
her daughter? Or something like that, Right, But what really sticks
with people, I think who watch this video are the
whales of this woman. She's just wailing and it's like that,
like soul disturbing whale of a mother being separated from
her child. Very few things sound like that. That's got
(10:33):
to be the worst pain because of how it sounds
coming from a human voice. Right, I don't know that
I hear sounds that feel more agonizing than that, feel
more fearful terrified. So obviously you and I we we
had this in our in our you know, pre production chat,
(10:56):
and looking into it, I'm like, what is going on here?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
You know?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And my is Okay, let's see what's going on here,
because in the caption says that she was a on
a tourist visa and that Ice had rounded her up
and was deporting her and her daughter was just left
on the street, right, And when you watch the video,
seems very clear you're certain that that's exactly what's happening.
(11:21):
Given the state of this country, but we don't get
to play by those rules. We have to like certainly
go and flesh it out, just make sure we have
you know, everything like that. So we did a little
bit of research here and I'll share what we found
from Snopes. In an email in New York Police Department
spokesperson said the incident in the video began with a
(11:43):
larceny at Sunglass Hut on Avenue of the Americas, where
four men allegedly stole fifty three pairs of sunglasses valued
at approximately thirty two thousand dollars. Officers later spotted a
suspect matching the description at a thirty fourth Street and
Seventh Avenue at thirty four Street in seventh Avenue. When
they attempted to arrest him, according to the NYPD spokesperson quote,
(12:07):
an unknown female approached the officers and made multiple attempts
to prevent the officers from affecting the arrest. NYPD identified
the woman in the video as Javiera Andrea Montero del
a thirty three year old Chilean national legally residing in
the United States with her family. So it turns out
(12:28):
that you know, the NYPD at least is saying that
this is not an ICE arrest. Later in the article
had said that the daughter was reunited with her at
the police station. Not sure how they pulled that off,
because they certainly put the mom in the car and
left the daughter on the street, but you know, this
is what they're saying, and so after that, it's like, Okay,
(12:49):
that's a disturbing video. Certainly shows kind of where we
are as a country. But Q made a point. He
said that the reason why we're reacting that way is
because of what ICE agents have been able to do.
The reason we're reacting that way is because due process
(13:13):
doesn't exist anymore in this country. And I don't care
who you are, if you're a human being with a
beating heart and a modicum of empathy, you see this
woman and you feel horrified. You feel like heartbroken for
her because whatever it is that came before this video,
you see her being separated from her daughter, who is
(13:35):
a child, being left on the sidewalk in New York City.
So I want you to jump in here, que because
I don't want to talk up all the time, but
I just wanted to make sure I painted the picture
the right way. So you're part of the dialogue.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yeah, I mean it's a really difficult thing to try
to unpack because, like you said, the lack of due
process and the acceleration of a numbers driven assault on
black and brown people. It's not about legality or immigration status.
It's about black and brown people. This is not happening
and happening in communities where the people that are immigrants
(14:13):
are also white. Yeah. Yeah, that's fair having to deal
with them overstaying their visas or not having their citizenship
done because they're arresting people at the courts that are
going through the proper processes. They're arresting, detaining, and deporting
citizens because of how they look or the language that
they speak. Right, So, because that mayhem is happening in
(14:33):
the streets and people are watching both plane closed and
now we've been seeing more of local and state level
police departments helping ice carry out these raids and these arrests.
So when it all looks the same, how does the
public know what to do? Like, once upon a time,
(14:54):
people would have never interfered with police arresting someone that
appeared to be a criminal. But once you realize the
police are arresting, beating up, detaining, kidnapping and disappearing American citizens,
foreign nationals, tourist, permanent residents, and people going through the
proper immigration process at immigration hearings. Then it's just licensed terror.
(15:19):
And people at some point are not going to just
keep watching their neighbors, their friends, and their coworkers be
kidnapped by police officers. So they're creating a problem for
themselves because at some point you're in pursuit of arresting
or detaining and an actual criminal, but it'll look just
like when you were arresting, detaining, deporting, kidnapping and disappearing
(15:39):
innocent people. And when people don't know the difference, what
are they supposed to do, And there's no way you
can excuse this child being left alone, you know, like
they're just the humanity has just disappeared. Like we've had
conversations about human being before officer, or at least human
(15:59):
being being while officer, and it's now just officer. The
human being part doesn't exist, and they're going to now
because of the way that they're recruiting embolden bullies, people
who would love a license, a badge and a gun
and a sanction to just go be mean and criminally
racist to people they don't like, the people that don't
(16:22):
look like them. They're inviting and have a recruiting process
that's going to attract the worst of us to get
into these positions of authority and power and flatly abuse it.
And it's encouraged. This is the country that we live in.
And you know, I've had these conversations with you off Mike.
It's remaining here is starting to become a fool's mission,
(16:46):
Like I don't know what to say to people anymore.
Every day it gets worse, and again, no one's coming
to save us.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
The one thing that I'm hoping for, fingers crossed, is
that the country has as a whole moved far enough
along to fight back against what ultimately became our new normal.
(17:23):
And while these incidents are disturbing, I think you're right.
You know, these ice folks in this government are making
problems for itself, and in the next three and a
half years things might reach a fever pitch, they might
reach a boiling point where it's kind of those of
us that liked the Obama years and tolerated the first
(17:47):
you know, Trump years versus those who are comfortable with
what Trump is doing right now, which I'd imagine is
less people overall because he got a lot of votes.
But I don't know that everybody voted for this stuff,
So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Moving on.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
In Entertainment News, we asked the question, are the taste
makers behind country music racist? We talk a lot about
race on this show. In a better world, we wouldn't
have to. In a better world, we would be able
to talk about music and movies and you know, things
(18:29):
that are moving the culture along and share our opinions
with you know, politics, of course, but you know, also
share more personal stories. But we're in a very racialized
time and we have to talk about stories like this,
So I'll get right into it. From the Black Information Network,
(18:55):
country music star Kane Brown has opened up about the
racism he experienced during the early days of his career.
During a recent appearance on Logan Paul's Impulsive podcast, Brown
revealed that songwriters in the country music circles refused to
work with him because he was black. Quote oh yeah,
Brown said, when asked if he had face racism in
the industry. Quote I remember. I ain't going to say
(19:18):
a name because I don't want to throw him under
the bus. But there was one writer that said he
wouldn't write with me because I'm black unquote. Brown said
he later confronted the writer, who apologized to him in
a bar. However, the country music star noted that the
incident wasn't a one off. Quote, there's another big writer
who had like thirty number ones that said the same
thing unquote, Brown recalled. The singer explained that these incidents
(19:42):
occurred during the early stages of his career, when he
was sharing covers on Facebook and before he received major
label deals and platinum records. Brown, whose albums have landed
in the top five US charts since twenty sixteen, recalled
the big writer backtracking on his comments when his career
began to grow. Quote, he apologized whenever we blew up
and was trying to write with me, But I said noote.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Brown said, all right, so.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
That is one person's story, right, Q, and I wouldn't
dedicate a segment entitled are the taste makers behind Country
Music racist? Based on one person's experience, but you know what,
we were talking and Q reminded me that T Pain
(20:30):
said something very similar last year, and I went back
to look and sure enough it was there from Billboard magazine.
I'll just share the headline, but yeah. Twenty twenty four,
T Pain says he's removed his songwriting credits from country
songs due to racism. And there's a quote, I'll just
take the check. Don't put me on that expletive deleted unquote,
(20:53):
he said in a TikTok and I remember this story.
We actually talked about it where t Pain was like, yeah, man,
it is not cool over there. Those people. You can
feel it. He's like, look, don't put my name on it.
If it's going to start any trouble. Just send me
to money.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
I'm good over where I'm at. Right, So, now you
have Tea Pain and you have Caine Brown. Okay, but
usually that's not enough either. But naturally, because we talked
about Beyonce and her country album and the waves that
(21:32):
it made, I feel compelled to share from the BBC
in September of twenty twenty four, Beyonce has been snubbed
by the Country Music Awards despite having one of the
biggest country hits of the year with Texas Hold Them.
When the nominees for the ceremony were announced on Monday morning,
the star was notably absent, but not a single nomination.
(21:53):
Beyonce had widely been expected to gain recognition at the awards,
with fans speculating she could become the first black woman
to be sure listed for Album of the Year for
Cowboy Carter. So now you have three different experiences of
people working in the country music scene, all black, all
(22:15):
kind of subjected to the forces of racism, and it's
being discussed. So now I think we get to ask
the question, are the taste makers behind country music racist?
Do you want to jump on this first?
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Sometimes we ask questions in good faith because we have to,
but we already know the answer, and it's it's those
times are difficult for me because it's hard for me
to pretend not to. The answer to so many questions
(22:56):
is racist. So many is racism. Flatly, people are tired
of hearing that, and I say it that they're tired
of hearing it is because the actual apology and the
actual repair never happened and never will. They just want
us to get over it and move on, while also
(23:19):
not changing anything. Because I think even without reparations and
even without proper acknowledgment, if they just stop being racist,
it'd be a bit easier to get over it and
get past it, but they won't. All of the institutions,
all of the corporations, Like we're watching rollbacks on DEI,
(23:41):
We're watching people flip flop on their opinions of this administration.
I'm seeing people that we once called allies, people like
Bill Maher, people like Colin Cowherd, who broke my heart
either today or yesterday on the Stephen Colbert story calling
him a a a leftist hack or something like that,
(24:03):
and I was like, Wow, Colin Cowherd has been one
of my favorite people in sports media for twenty years
and has always been a loud voice, seemingly as an ally,
just like Bill Maher was once upon a time. But
what you step back and realize is that rich white
men tend to think like and protect one another when
(24:27):
it comes down to it, in an effort to stand
with I'm guessing next to or not make his other
rich white friends uncomfortable. People are just taking really really
interesting stanzas now. So when you see bodies of music
start changing the way that they do their awards, when
you see the Academy create a new category for country
(24:48):
music so that legacy acts can feel safe that the
new brown people won't come and take their category over.
You see these changes in these ships being made that
have never been made before. We don't have to ask
that if or I guess you know, we have to
say things like alleged and the spaces that we work in.
(25:11):
But it's not actually in good face to wonder if
these institutions are racist when they go so far out
of there, out of their way to remind us that
they are.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
You know what, let's go all right, watch this action Bronson, Eminem,
Beastie Boys, MGK, Post Malone, Jack Harlow, Yellowolf Gezy Logic
ASoP Rock, Mac Miller, h Vanilla White or Vanilla Ice.
I mean to say, uh, Paul Wall, who else, Bubba Sparks,
(25:53):
I could go on. These are all white rappers, right,
all got love? You know all you know, embraced, you
make don't forget Mackelemore, Macael Dad not say Mackelmore n
F that did not? Okay, I know I'm missing a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Hold on.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Top fifty white rapp Now, any of these people, any
of these people who are these country music purists, I'm
sure that they would have an issue if there were
fifty and This is just the top fifty list that
I have here. Any of these people would have an
(26:36):
issue if there were fifty country music singers that were black, right.
I know that because they have an issue with there
being two. Because T Payne is not a country singer.
He just writes, he just was writing at that point
country music.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Well, now you have Beyonce, Kane Brown, and Shaboozi Shaboozi.
There you go. So there's three, there's three, there's and
there's more. Or I don't want us to sound ignorant,
there's more, but you would know.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Better than me. You would know better than me. But
I definitely know those three. Yeah, and you are you
right there? There's a there's a handful more. But the
people in hip hop, they're embraced. You know Brother Ali,
like I know Brother Ali. You know, I met him
a bunch of times. I remember, Man, what a long list,
A little Zanne, little Peep, all these guys. Okay, jelly Roll,
(27:23):
Oh my god, jelly Roll to Pitbull. Well Pible's not white,
but you know what I'm saying. Iggy Azalea, she had
she had a moment in the sun. Anyway, I think
that that racism street is really just these people kind
of with their head in this hand. Uh. And it's
(27:44):
heartbreaking that you know there are people who are still
like this. But I mean, I guess this is the
last like hold out for racist people. I'm sure racist
people listen to country music more than they listen to
other types of music because it's probably consistent with their lifestyle,
you know, out on the prairie or not in a
(28:06):
big city.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
So in any event, here's hoping things get better. That's
the best we can do. But for now, we'll just
leave it all right here. That's going to do it
for us on the QR Code. Today Show is produced
as always 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. While you're there, be sure
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be sure to check us out on all social media
(28:28):
at Civic Cipher civ I c C I p H
E R I have been your host. You can find
me on all social media at rams' Jah. He has
been your host. You can find me at I am
q born on all social media. But I just work
here it's the QR code. We both just work here,
(28:51):
and we both don't host. Don't let them pulll you,
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