August 12, 2023 • 34 mins
In the second half of the show, we discuss the song ‘Try That in a Small Town’ by Jason Aldean and the effort to push the single to #1 on the charts. We examine solidarity on the right and far right and how the organizational efforts of these folks often shape outcomes for the rest of us.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Watch my mic back like that, just striking from head
borders behind in.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
The just tuning into sitting cipher. I am your host,
Ramsey's job.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
He is job. I am q ward and I am
steel fing my best to do this one too with
this call.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah, you sound good. We'll stick around. We still got
a lot more show in store for you. We're gonna
circle back to that riverboat stuff for our way black
history fact. We're going to talk about the name of
the boat because I guess the name of that boat
was taken from a boat that used to transport slaves.
And we're also going to talk about that part of
(00:43):
the Alabama Riverfront or whatever, because that used to be
a slave auction. And then we're going to talk about
the folding chair because we didn't get to it. Shout
out to Aquamane and Uncle Wiget here you you wouldn't
know if you've seen the video or whatever, but we're
gonna talk about that folding share and the fact that
a black person is the one who pattent did the
(01:04):
folding chair. And we're also going to talk about Jason
Aldean and his song try that in a small town
so stay tuned for all that. But first and foremost,
we're going to discuss b A b A becoming a
better ally Baba. Today's Boba sponsored by Unknown Union, the
fashion house situated at the intersection of meaning, innovation and culture.
For more info check Unknown Union dot com. And today
(01:29):
we're talking about this came from the South Africa Daily
and we're talking about The Rock, the actor Duane the
Rock Johnson. So I'll read. American actor Duane Johnson, best
known as The Rock, took time out of his business
schedule to recently surprise Demba to Goririmbo is zimbabwayan UFC
(01:53):
fighter who had recently relocated to the United States with
only seven dollars in his bank account and the aim
of pursuing his dream of the coming a UFC champion.
Then bug Grimbo fought against Takashi Sato in May and
made his first win after falling after previously falling short
against aj Fletcher. MMA News reported during an interview after
(02:14):
the fight, he shared a devastating story about his childhood
back in Zimbabwe. Quote, I've almost died when I was
sixteen at the Diamond Fields. I saw heaven when I
was in the fields. I've been shot at in the
diamond fields. I've seen people die in front of me
at the diamond fields. I smuggled diamonds when I was sixteen,
he said. According to The Rock, after Garimbo won his
(02:34):
first fight, he sold everything, including his fighting gear, on
the net and made seven thousand dollars, which he donated
to his village. And I saw the video. There's a
video documenting this is really special and if you have
a beating hearted, mi movie to tears.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
To get clean drinking water to his village.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, so he spent all his prize money from his
fight to get his village some water, a clean water
pump or something, and then he came to the US
to try to become the champion so that you can
have more money to donate. Anyway, I finished, the former
WWE wrestler or decided to surprise Grimbo at a gym
in South Florida where he slept since he was homeless
in America with a new house. This is obviously The
(03:13):
Rock is black and Grimbo is black as well, but
black people can be allies to black people and people
in Africa. Money is a big deal in Africa because
there's even less of a there.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Big deal everywhere, sure, and there's plenty there. They just
figure out how to keep it away from us. I
don't even want to start.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
That's a whole Listen.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
We haven't broached that money and resource in Africa therea.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
We haven't broached that subject because we try to deal
with things in the United States. But listen, the geopolitical
status of all the countries in Africa. Listen, We're not
born to be poor, we're not born to die, We're
not stupid, we're not all corrupted or not. You know,
none of that stuff. There are divorces. We're directly working
to help eradicate that as well. Yeah, Q especially, this
is not a passive mission that we're all. We will
(03:57):
be on the continent later this year. I give you
guys up based on that. If I can convinced Ram
just to go back with me, oh yeah, both of
us will be there. We there. I love Africa anyway,
all right, So let's talk about what solidarity looks like
on the opposite side. Okay, So this one is going
(04:20):
to be a little weird, because I think this gives
insight into how cooperative folks who whose beliefs are based
in hate and divisiveness. In my estimation, they probably would
not call it hate and divisiveness, but I know better.
(04:42):
They just rebranded every few years is something different, but
we're calling it conserva, deep conservative conservativism, now right or
far right conservativism, but it's racism, that's full stop. We're
going to show how they stick together. And I want
to have this in content trust to that riverboat thing,
because this what we're talking about with this Jason Aldean thing,
(05:05):
is this happens quite a bit, especially when it comes
to voting. These people vote, they get together, they get organized.
I think Malcolm X has a quote that I think
works right here. He says, we were not out numbered,
we're out organized. Right. So that's why that riverboat thing
was so special for black folks because it showed a
(05:29):
little bit of solidarity. We're going to rally around this
person and support him in his time of need. Well,
the opposite of that is this Jason Aldean guy. So
I'm gonna do a little bit of reading from Rolling Stone,
and I'm gonna tag Q in along the way just
to kind of help paint a picture, because I know
Q has been champing at the bit to try to
(05:50):
get this one. That's an inside well, I guess not
inside joke, because last week or two weeks ago, we're
trying to figure out if it was Champion at the
bit chomping at the bit. It turns out it's both.
But champing is not wrong, but Cusman champing at the
bit to get at this topic here. So I'll read
a bit, all right, This comes from Rolling Stone. Conservative
(06:11):
fans tried to push Jason Alden to number one. They
just missed. Jung Cook and Lotto prevail after streams and
sales for Try That in a Small Town skyrocketed thanks
to the controversy around the song and video. Okay, let
me read a bit. Conservatives hoping to drive Jason Alden's
controversial Try That in a Small Town to number one
(06:32):
on the charts following CMT's move to pull the music
video fell just short on Monday. Bear in mind, we're
reading this a little bit after it came out because
we couldn't get to it last week, So forgive me.
The timeline might not sound as accurate, and you're hearing
us after we've recorded this. I'll go on as Jung
Cook and Lotto's seven Rain victorious. But the controversy clearly
(06:55):
stoked flames among MAGA circles, giving the song sales a
major boost last week and propelling the song to number
two on the chart. According to data service Illuminate, which
powers the Billboard charts, Try That in a Small Town
was garnering fewer than one thousand sales per week and
hovering just shy of a million streams per week in
(07:16):
the month prior to when al Dean released the song's
music video on July fourteenth. Immediately, al Dean faced swift backlash,
as everyone from fellow artists like Sheryl Crow and Jason
Isbel to scholars of racial violence pointed out the parallels
to white nationalist narratives in al Dean's depiction a protest
(07:36):
as violent and lawless and his taunting refrain try that
in a small town, See how far you make it
down the road. CMT pulled the video within a few days,
drawing a predictably furious outcry from the right wing and
vows to drive the song up the charts. So I'm
going to read a little bit more here, but short,
(08:02):
this video pulled footage from the BLM protests. Now you'll
hear because we have to say his side of the story,
but you'll hear him say that he didn't know that
it was that, and he you know whatever. I guess
he didn't have permission to use the footage anyway. But
those of us in the know realize that this is coded.
(08:25):
This is like dog whistle musicianship right here, musicianship. He's
making a song two for those really entitled folks and
these folks that feel like America belongs to them and
the flag is theirs, and that you know, Donald Trump
(08:46):
is the second coming of Jesus Christ. It gives them
a rallying cry, reason to beat their chest. Right. That's
not to say that we haven't had songs to move
the culture forward on our side, and by our side,
I mean the more I guess liberal side of things
or less conservative side of things. But this one is
(09:08):
a little different in that this song there's connections to
violence that are very realistic and very much based in
a real history. And so for this Jason Alden record,
(09:29):
when the video comes out, they're showing like a courthouse
and that's where they used to do like public lynchings
of black people back in the day. And you know,
obviously the footage of the protests really pits Jason Alden's
message of try that in a small town against the
messaging of the BLM protests of twenty twenty. In other words,
(09:53):
it's a rallying cry that is like the lyrics don't
directly reference it, but when the video did, that's when
it blew up, because everyone's like, okay, clear, now you
can't even hide it anymore, Like we knew, but now
we know no, because you're literally showing us the video.
So I'm going to turn it over to Q to
get his early thoughts, and then we'll get back to
(10:14):
reading a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
About I guess the most frustrating part is that their
efforts did not fail. As of ten hours ago, story
released by Rolling Stone stated that the song last week
actually did make it to number one.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Oh okay.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
However, what Rolling Stone also pointed out is that it
was clear that that was their effort. Now once it
got there, no one cared. The song dropped twenty four
spots on the charts the following week. It's no longer
in the top ten, Mike, as I'm looking now, it's
not in the top thirty. As I'm looking now, it's
not in the top forty. As I'm looking now, it's
(10:52):
not in the top fifty. That's all it's worth. I'm
looking now, it's not in the top sixty. I'm going
to scroll until I find it. Well, seventy, you can
talk ram this, So watch this eighty Donald Trump, ninety,
go ahead. It's not in the top one hundred. I
won't scroll past that because I think my point is proven.
(11:13):
It was a troll job by people that hate, just
like he intended them to get. Pretended he had no
idea when there's video of protest in Atlanta in his video.
So it's intentionally insultingly deceitful.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
So watch this.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Throw the rock and hydra hand is what my people
call that. Yeah, cowardice. So Donald Trump's what was that?
The choir, the January sixth choir, the people that were
in prison or whatever, they did a rendition of America,
the Beautiful Pledge, allegiance to some some song, right, maybe
(11:57):
the national anthem, who knows, but.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
It was like January. The supporters of the January sixth
insurrection that it went to jail. That song ended up
going to number one, not necessarily because it was quality
music or it it slaps or it was you know
what it was. Even this song right here, we know
that it don't slap because it was getting a thousand,
what was it, one thousand sales per week prior to
(12:21):
the controversy. People weren't checking for it. It's like you said,
a troll job. So these things that the January sixth choired,
this sort of thing and other things are kind of
an act of solidarity on that part. Their response to
the I'm a huge fan of wokeness. I'd rather be
woken in sleep Dog ten times out of ten for real.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
And I want to say this before you move on,
but because I want to quote an actual source and
not just myself, Rolling Stone says the song felled twenty
four spots. That was earlier today. I don't see the song,
but Rolling Stone does this for a living, so I'm
going to lead on them, okay, but it still makes
the point. Yeah, typically of song reaches number one, it'll
be there for longer than a week, and if it
(13:03):
does drop to five two, yeah, it drops to four,
not twenty five.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah. So anyway, that's solidarity in that organization around And
the sad part is that they it's like almost like
these people know that it's hate. They know they're like,
they'll call it frustration, the will call it fed up
(13:28):
and fed up with the you know whatever.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
But it's hate.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
It's all it is, right, we know that. But they
needed to be anything other than racism. That's why they
don't like that word, because that means that they've lost
the narrative.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Right, you can't be you and they're a bad person, right,
And they can't want to be perceived as bad people.
They're just upset, Right, how can I best tired of
being marginalized? They're just acknowledging that racism towards white people
is a far worse problem than racism towards non whites
in this country.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
You should check out our check out our show from
last week.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
If you all they're trying to express, you want to
get you specifically to understand that, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Well, activities like this that push uh a hateful message,
that fly in the face of what is simply an
affirmation that black lives have worth is on its face,
(14:30):
insulting and hurtful, and they will adopt any possible vantage
point other than that it's glaringly obvious vantage point to
make their case.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
It's the reason why the social constructs of black and
white were so brilliantly placed. Right all of you immigrants
that have come here that are not from Africa, rewind
that don't look like you're from Africa, whose skin isn't dark,
who lack melanin, can identify as white. And once we
(15:07):
do that, the drastic at that point, the drastic minority
of people will be identified as black. So even though
we're very very different. We're German, we're Irish, we're Australian.
You know, we're French, we're Swiss, were Spanish or Portuguese,
(15:29):
even we're white, all of us. And once I can
get all of you to identify as white, I can
then present white as superior and everything else as beneath
what you was talking about here is and then the
rest of your life without knowing it because it's an ideology.
Now you have been indoctrinated to the idea of simple
(15:55):
self protection, self preservation.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
If you will.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Kind well to do people, fight, vote, sing, march, and
organize to protect the social construct of white supremacy because
it is drastically beneficial to them.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Right now, I need to fill in a gap here, please,
So if you look throughout history until about maybe the
late fifteen hundreds, early sixteen hundreds, you won't notice white people.
(16:34):
Of course, our modern interpretation of what white people is.
Those people existed, but you won't find them. They're not
documented anywhere any more than black people existed prior to
this time. The term white people was created to delineate
(16:57):
the non slave class from the slave class. In other words,
based on your appearance, you could tell a person's status
in a given society black because of the slave trade.
So shout out to Great Britain, Britain, and the Spanish,
and the Portuguese and the Americans. And let's not pretend
(17:19):
like the Middle East, those those countries and there didn't
have anything to do with it as well. And so
this is the origin story of black people as a
term and white people as a term.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And even then, during your progressive movements, call those black
people African Americans and everyone else just American.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Mmm. Now, let me let me take that a step further.
So this country has used that white supremacy at several
points to let's let's say, after several points after slavery ended,
to continue to benefit from the presence of black people,
(18:03):
black bodies and to profit off of black labor. And
I'm not just talking about prisons. I'm talking about land theft.
I'm talking about UH a series of aggressive acts, political
acts and uh fiscal acts, you know, laws enacted to
(18:27):
uphold a system that protects white interests and doesn't consider
black interests. And I'm not just talking about Jim Crow
and you know, the Black Codes, and I'm not just
talking about the GI Bill, and I'm not just talking
about redlining. It's it's so much deepail, Like like land theft,
(18:51):
we could we could just start there, billions and billions
of dollars just just completely taken washed off of the record,
and then guess who ended up with that land? Right, So,
so for many years, black people have borne the brunt
of a system that protects white interests. I'm not making
this stuff up either. Why would I do that. I
(19:12):
could be easily debunked. I just have happened to be
able to do so much research over the past few
years especially, and then now I'm condensing it into a conversation.
So when we talk about this guy Jason Alden and
his song, and it's very pro white supremacist messaging, dog
whistle messaging, and then we see the solidarity around it.
(19:37):
This is something that we all need to be made
aware of because, as Malcolm X said often enough. His
quote goes, we are not outnumbered, we are out organized,
and we have to know that even though it's hate,
it's very, very sophisticated hate. It's sophisticated at the polls.
(20:00):
It's sophisticated to trick Billboard charts algorithms, right because they're
not increasing the amount of radio plays. So that's clicks,
that's downloads, that streams, that's everything of people saying this
is the reality that I want to live in. I'm
going to do this a thousand times.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Rolling Stone notes the songs drop from number one to
twenty one is among the biggest falls from the top
one hundred in the charts history. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Now I'm going to finish reading this article just so
I can finish painting the picture. But I have to
say his piece too, just to be fair or whatever.
I guess, all right, just last week alone, So again
Ques reading more current from a more current source. I'm
reading the source that we built this segment around, So
mine is a little bit older than what Ques reading. Anyway,
(20:53):
just last week alone, Aldin's song earned about two hundred
and twenty eight twenty eight thousand digital songs sales and
eleven point six million streams. For reference, the song has
two hundred and thirty eight digital sales all time, meaning
that around ninety five percent of the sales came last
week after the controversy started. Fifty of its nearly twenty
(21:15):
one million all time streams came last week as well.
Aldine faced diiff competition from bds's Jung Kook, who said, uh, well,
I guess we don't need to read that anymore anyway.
Regardless of where a small town landed on the chart,
the track has become yet another dog whistle for conservatives
how about that, who have bemoaned the critiques as examples
(21:35):
of so called cancel culture. Right wing entrepreneur and long
shot presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, whoever that say we did
last one I know he is. I'm just being playing,
tweeted last week that he'd be playing the song at
rallies and encouraging followers to drive the song up the charts,
before doing his best to change the subject to hip hop.
(21:57):
Ramaswammy eagerly echoed the song veil threatening tone quote, it'd
be a real shame if the song hits number one.
Other accounts of referenced the bud Light boycott, some conservatives
tries to get off the ground after the beer brand
partnered with trans TikTok star Dylan mulvaney, or the campaign
to boost Qanana Jason thriller Sound of Freedom all Right,
(22:19):
now Here We Go. Aldine himself has repeatedly dismissed the backlash,
denying that try That in a Small Town is a
pro lynching song. He says, quote there's not a single
lyric in the song that references race or points to it.
He wrote on social media. Obviously the video told a
much different story. But you know this is what he's
hiding behind. Easy so they say, whats your chest if
(22:41):
you mean it otherwise, don't play with people. But you know, anyway,
let me finish read all right. On Friday night, Al
Dean addressed a controversy during a concert in Cincinnati, seeming
to applaud efforts to cash in on the song's notoriety. Quote,
you guys know how it is. It's cancel culture. It's
a thing. It's somehow where if people don't like what
you say, they try and make sure they can cancel you,
(23:02):
which means they try to ruin your life, ruin everything.
One thing I saw this week was a bunch of
country music fans that can see through a lot of
the bs. All Right, I saw country music fans rally
like I've never seen before, and that was pretty bad,
as in good. I gotta say thank you guys so much.
So this is his statement on the whole thing. Just
(23:24):
to be fair. Obviously, we know that it can only
be one of two things, what we believe it to be,
which is outright racism and you know, him taking advantage
of that and making music about that, which we don't
believe is kind at all.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Or and then there's the easy veil of just painting
that not as racism but as patriotism.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Or yeah that, but thinly veiled patriotism is or sorry,
thinly veiled racism is.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Well, I guess it's one of the same. That's what
I'm trying to say. That's the part that's most terrified.
So it's happened in the American flag, and it's okay.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
So watch this. It's either him making a song about hate,
or it's him taking advantage of people who have hateful tendencies.
All right, time for the Way Black History Fact. Today's
Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Underground Beach Club
from the Streets to the Beach for the for the
latest in beach where visit Underground Beach Club dot com. Again,
(24:27):
Q is going to be reading three different parts of
our Way Black History Fact. We're gonna be talking about
the ship Harriet, the second, which was named after a
slave ship. We're going to be talking about the Alabama
Riverfront slave trade. And we're talking about how a black
man patented the folding chair that was famously used in
the Alabama Riverfront brawl. Right floors yours?
Speaker 3 (24:50):
What's the word I'm looking for? The serendipity.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
It's funny that patent.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
We'll talk about that later. Literally sourcing from sports keya
dot com. The Harriotship has a long standing history, as
it was first launched in Liverpool in seventeen eighty six,
initially sailing between Liverpool and Barbados. The ship was later
captured by a French ship, but the British Navy was
quick to recapture it. The Harriot was a slave ship
(25:17):
back in the seventeen hundreds. From seventeen ninety eight to
eighteen oh five it carried thousands of slaves to Barbados
and then back to Liverpool. However, post it was owned
by Barton and Co. And also cruise between Liverpool and Africa.
It now serves as a relaxing cruise and as one
of Montgomery's tourist attractions, which offers visitors dinner, dancing, live
(25:42):
entertainment and more. The idea that a slave ship can
become a tourist attraction in this country and clearly be
a profitable one. It is just part of the American dream,
I guess.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
But funnily enough, all those black people jumped off of
that slave ship and got busy, so you know, interesting,
how true? Indeed, sometimes things come together, all right.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
This source from CBS News. Montgomery, Alabama, played a central
role in the slave trade. In downtown Montgomery, not far
from where the brawl took place, a historic marker commemorates
the city's role in the transatlantic slave trade. Joshua D. Rothman,
a historian and chair of the Department of History at
the University of Alabama, told CNN the state played a
(26:25):
quote substantial role in the domestic slave trade end quote.
Until the Civil War in the mid eighteen hundreds, thousands
of enslaved people were transported on steamboats and railroads from
New Orlands up the Alabama River to Montgomery. According to
the Montgomery based Equal Justice Initiatives, many of the rail
routes have been constructed by slave labor. Enslaves people would
(26:48):
arrive on Montgomery's river front or at the train station
where they could be chained together and paraded down Commerce Street.
That used to be like a celebratory act. There's something
that inspired people, made people happy that it would rile
people up. Let's march these slaves down the street, shackle
together so that people can celebrate it.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Cattle drive.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
They would later be sold in the city slave markets.
By eighteen sixty, there were more than four hundred and
thirty five thousand enslaved people in the state. That's in
one state, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. By the
start of the Civil War a year later, Montgomery was
among the most prominent slave trading communities in the state,
and the mid eighteen hundreds, thousand enslaved people were transported
(27:32):
on steamboats railroads from New Orleans up Alabama River to
Montgomery and Montgomery having a prominent slave trading community in
the state. Quote the slavery's impact could be seen everywhere,
Rothman said in an email to CNN. He added that
enslave labor fueled the local economy and influenced everything from
(27:54):
political order to religious life. If you scratch hard enough
at the surface of any of those matters and many
other matters today, you'll likely find the legacy of slavery
living somewhere underneath facts. It was once the capital of
the Confederacy. Montgomery is often called the cradle of the
(28:14):
Confederacy because in eighteen sixty one, it briefly served as
the first capital of the Confederate States of America, wow
eleven states has succeeded from the Union. After Abraham Lincoln
was elected President of the US in eighteen sixty Delegates
from six of those states South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
(28:34):
and Louisiana convened in Montgomery in February eighteen sixty one
to officially establish their own government, and May of eighteen
sixty one, the Confederate government moved from Montgomery to Richmond, Virginia,
which retained the capital of the Confederacy until the end
of the.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Civil War wasn't very long.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Yeah, you kind of think this stuff was thousands of
years ago, you know what I mean? Like we have
generation removed, right, your parents' parents. That's it thoughtcold dot
com this one is I'll continue the volding chair. On
July seventh, nineteen eleven, an African American man named Nathaniel
(29:16):
Alexander of Lynchburg, Virginia patented a volding chair. According to
his patent, Nathaniel Alexander designed his chair to be used
in schools, churches, and auditoriums. His design included a book
rest that was usable for the person sitting in the
seat behind, and was ideal for church or choir use.
Patton nine nine seven one zero eight is the only
(29:39):
invention on record for Nathaniel Alexander, but on March tenth,
nineteen eleven, his application was witnessed by two people, James
Rodiggs and C. A. Lindsay. Alexander's volding chair is not
the first volding chair patent in the United States. His
innovation was that it included a book rest, making get
suitable for use in places where the back of one
chair could be used as a desk or shelf by
(30:00):
the person seated behind. This would certainly be convenient with
setting up rolls of chairs required so they could rest
music on the chair ahead of each singer, or for
churches where a prayer book, hymnal or Bible could be
placed on the reading shelf during the service. Voting chairs
allow the space to be used for other purposes when
there is not a class or church service. Today, many
(30:22):
congregations meeting spaces that used to be large big box stores, supermarkets,
or other large cavernous rooms. Using voting chairs set up
only during services, they are able to quickly turn spaces
into a church. In the early part of the twentieth century,
congregations likewise might have met outdoors and warehouses, barns, or
other spaces that didn't have fixed seating or pews.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
So again, I think that statement where it says, if
you scratch hard enough at the surface of any of
those matters and many others today, you'll likely find the
legacy of slavery lying somewhere underneath brawl video. We didn't
have to scratch very hard, and you could see a
lot of history there, and that history matters. Those people
(31:09):
still that's not thousands of years ago, like you said,
it's within a couple of lifetimes. It's really easy to
pass on hateful ideas about different people to the next generation.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Another thing that we might have to follow up on
when we get a chance. There's a I want to
make sure I'm using the right word. There's some synergy,
some connectiveness between areas where there are Trump rallies and an
increase in anti black violence session even if it's not causality,
(31:42):
you don't say, just something to consider and maybe that
we will have a chance to talk about on the
show sometime soon.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Well, while we're here, I want to say that neither
of us candone any violence. That's not going to be
the answer. That's not how you treat your brothers and
your sisters. But we do recognize that sometimes it's necessary
to fight fire with fire. We are I'm definitely a pacifist.
I don't believe in any of that stuff. But you know,
(32:12):
we hope that we've helped you understand a little bit more.
We're still coming to understand these things ourselves, and we
don't profess to be experts in this space at all.
We are doing our best to be brothers to you
to give you what it is that we feel you
might need to become the best ally that you can
be so that you can have the conversations and make
the impact.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
And we might not be experts, but we are probably
more aggressively than a lot of people seeking that information.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Yeah, very proactive, that's very fair. So with that in mind,
i'd like to thank you once again for tuning in
the Civic Cipher. As always, I'm your host Rams's job.
I am q ward on all the social media's and stuff. Indeed,
and this is Cific Cipher.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Man.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
We appreciate you guys. I love Ramsey's job. I don't
know if I've said that on the show before, but
I need it to. I forgot that right now.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I love you too, man. All right, well, hit the
website Civiccipher dot calm. Download this and any previous pisodes,
make a donation. The show grows with your support, and
follow us on social media at Civic Sipher. You can
goalt of this in any previous episodes and until next week. Y'all,
pace pace, y'all, like yo, we had to live. These
brothers a fabulous our.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Lady showing you where ROMB travel is spig tones from
sunlight to move, busting on stage like the fights and
move rove my mic back.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
You're like that journalist with journalist too.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
We can strike back called borders with waters from headquarters
behind in the beline sides up and the borders with
press passes.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
We bring it to you as it happens. The streets
love popping from music.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
You're wrapping the street compand the slash peek expando. You're
gonna fight the slander with the proper propaganda.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
What's happening? It's how You've got any questions to ask?
Speaker 2 (33:46):
If Deduce is just a TV show you're passing and
this from a white wartime journalist headlines.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Wait, you'll previs and read this like this, like what
like this like
And now.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Watch my mic back like that, just striking from head
borders behind in.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
The just tuning into sitting cipher. I am your host,
Ramsey's job.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
He is job. I am q ward and I am
steel fing my best to do this one too with
this call.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah, you sound good. We'll stick around. We still got
a lot more show in store for you. We're gonna
circle back to that riverboat stuff for our way black
history fact. We're going to talk about the name of
the boat because I guess the name of that boat
was taken from a boat that used to transport slaves.
And we're also going to talk about that part of
(00:43):
the Alabama Riverfront or whatever, because that used to be
a slave auction. And then we're going to talk about
the folding chair because we didn't get to it. Shout
out to Aquamane and Uncle Wiget here you you wouldn't
know if you've seen the video or whatever, but we're
gonna talk about that folding share and the fact that
a black person is the one who pattent did the
(01:04):
folding chair. And we're also going to talk about Jason
Aldean and his song try that in a small town
so stay tuned for all that. But first and foremost,
we're going to discuss b A b A becoming a
better ally Baba. Today's Boba sponsored by Unknown Union, the
fashion house situated at the intersection of meaning, innovation and culture.
For more info check Unknown Union dot com. And today
(01:29):
we're talking about this came from the South Africa Daily
and we're talking about The Rock, the actor Duane the
Rock Johnson. So I'll read. American actor Duane Johnson, best
known as The Rock, took time out of his business
schedule to recently surprise Demba to Goririmbo is zimbabwayan UFC
(01:53):
fighter who had recently relocated to the United States with
only seven dollars in his bank account and the aim
of pursuing his dream of the coming a UFC champion.
Then bug Grimbo fought against Takashi Sato in May and
made his first win after falling after previously falling short
against aj Fletcher. MMA News reported during an interview after
(02:14):
the fight, he shared a devastating story about his childhood
back in Zimbabwe. Quote, I've almost died when I was
sixteen at the Diamond Fields. I saw heaven when I
was in the fields. I've been shot at in the
diamond fields. I've seen people die in front of me
at the diamond fields. I smuggled diamonds when I was sixteen,
he said. According to The Rock, after Garimbo won his
(02:34):
first fight, he sold everything, including his fighting gear, on
the net and made seven thousand dollars, which he donated
to his village. And I saw the video. There's a
video documenting this is really special and if you have
a beating hearted, mi movie to tears.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
To get clean drinking water to his village.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, so he spent all his prize money from his
fight to get his village some water, a clean water
pump or something, and then he came to the US
to try to become the champion so that you can
have more money to donate. Anyway, I finished, the former
WWE wrestler or decided to surprise Grimbo at a gym
in South Florida where he slept since he was homeless
in America with a new house. This is obviously The
(03:13):
Rock is black and Grimbo is black as well, but
black people can be allies to black people and people
in Africa. Money is a big deal in Africa because
there's even less of a there.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Big deal everywhere, sure, and there's plenty there. They just
figure out how to keep it away from us. I
don't even want to start.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
That's a whole Listen.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
We haven't broached that money and resource in Africa therea.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
We haven't broached that subject because we try to deal
with things in the United States. But listen, the geopolitical
status of all the countries in Africa. Listen, We're not
born to be poor, we're not born to die, We're
not stupid, we're not all corrupted or not. You know,
none of that stuff. There are divorces. We're directly working
to help eradicate that as well. Yeah, Q especially, this
is not a passive mission that we're all. We will
(03:57):
be on the continent later this year. I give you
guys up based on that. If I can convinced Ram
just to go back with me, oh yeah, both of
us will be there. We there. I love Africa anyway,
all right, So let's talk about what solidarity looks like
on the opposite side. Okay, So this one is going
(04:20):
to be a little weird, because I think this gives
insight into how cooperative folks who whose beliefs are based
in hate and divisiveness. In my estimation, they probably would
not call it hate and divisiveness, but I know better.
(04:42):
They just rebranded every few years is something different, but
we're calling it conserva, deep conservative conservativism, now right or
far right conservativism, but it's racism, that's full stop. We're
going to show how they stick together. And I want
to have this in content trust to that riverboat thing,
because this what we're talking about with this Jason Aldean thing,
(05:05):
is this happens quite a bit, especially when it comes
to voting. These people vote, they get together, they get organized.
I think Malcolm X has a quote that I think
works right here. He says, we were not out numbered,
we're out organized. Right. So that's why that riverboat thing
was so special for black folks because it showed a
(05:29):
little bit of solidarity. We're going to rally around this
person and support him in his time of need. Well,
the opposite of that is this Jason Aldean guy. So
I'm gonna do a little bit of reading from Rolling Stone,
and I'm gonna tag Q in along the way just
to kind of help paint a picture, because I know
Q has been champing at the bit to try to
(05:50):
get this one. That's an inside well, I guess not
inside joke, because last week or two weeks ago, we're
trying to figure out if it was Champion at the
bit chomping at the bit. It turns out it's both.
But champing is not wrong, but Cusman champing at the
bit to get at this topic here. So I'll read
a bit, all right, This comes from Rolling Stone. Conservative
(06:11):
fans tried to push Jason Alden to number one. They
just missed. Jung Cook and Lotto prevail after streams and
sales for Try That in a Small Town skyrocketed thanks
to the controversy around the song and video. Okay, let
me read a bit. Conservatives hoping to drive Jason Alden's
controversial Try That in a Small Town to number one
(06:32):
on the charts following CMT's move to pull the music
video fell just short on Monday. Bear in mind, we're
reading this a little bit after it came out because
we couldn't get to it last week, So forgive me.
The timeline might not sound as accurate, and you're hearing
us after we've recorded this. I'll go on as Jung
Cook and Lotto's seven Rain victorious. But the controversy clearly
(06:55):
stoked flames among MAGA circles, giving the song sales a
major boost last week and propelling the song to number
two on the chart. According to data service Illuminate, which
powers the Billboard charts, Try That in a Small Town
was garnering fewer than one thousand sales per week and
hovering just shy of a million streams per week in
(07:16):
the month prior to when al Dean released the song's
music video on July fourteenth. Immediately, al Dean faced swift backlash,
as everyone from fellow artists like Sheryl Crow and Jason
Isbel to scholars of racial violence pointed out the parallels
to white nationalist narratives in al Dean's depiction a protest
(07:36):
as violent and lawless and his taunting refrain try that
in a small town, See how far you make it
down the road. CMT pulled the video within a few days,
drawing a predictably furious outcry from the right wing and
vows to drive the song up the charts. So I'm
going to read a little bit more here, but short,
(08:02):
this video pulled footage from the BLM protests. Now you'll
hear because we have to say his side of the story,
but you'll hear him say that he didn't know that
it was that, and he you know whatever. I guess
he didn't have permission to use the footage anyway. But
those of us in the know realize that this is coded.
(08:25):
This is like dog whistle musicianship right here, musicianship. He's
making a song two for those really entitled folks and
these folks that feel like America belongs to them and
the flag is theirs, and that you know, Donald Trump
(08:46):
is the second coming of Jesus Christ. It gives them
a rallying cry, reason to beat their chest. Right. That's
not to say that we haven't had songs to move
the culture forward on our side, and by our side,
I mean the more I guess liberal side of things
or less conservative side of things. But this one is
(09:08):
a little different in that this song there's connections to
violence that are very realistic and very much based in
a real history. And so for this Jason Alden record,
(09:29):
when the video comes out, they're showing like a courthouse
and that's where they used to do like public lynchings
of black people back in the day. And you know,
obviously the footage of the protests really pits Jason Alden's
message of try that in a small town against the
messaging of the BLM protests of twenty twenty. In other words,
(09:53):
it's a rallying cry that is like the lyrics don't
directly reference it, but when the video did, that's when
it blew up, because everyone's like, okay, clear, now you
can't even hide it anymore, Like we knew, but now
we know no, because you're literally showing us the video.
So I'm going to turn it over to Q to
get his early thoughts, and then we'll get back to
(10:14):
reading a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
About I guess the most frustrating part is that their
efforts did not fail. As of ten hours ago, story
released by Rolling Stone stated that the song last week
actually did make it to number one.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Oh okay.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
However, what Rolling Stone also pointed out is that it
was clear that that was their effort. Now once it
got there, no one cared. The song dropped twenty four
spots on the charts the following week. It's no longer
in the top ten, Mike, as I'm looking now, it's
not in the top thirty. As I'm looking now, it's
not in the top forty. As I'm looking now, it's
(10:52):
not in the top fifty. That's all it's worth. I'm
looking now, it's not in the top sixty. I'm going
to scroll until I find it. Well, seventy, you can
talk ram this, So watch this eighty Donald Trump, ninety,
go ahead. It's not in the top one hundred. I
won't scroll past that because I think my point is proven.
(11:13):
It was a troll job by people that hate, just
like he intended them to get. Pretended he had no
idea when there's video of protest in Atlanta in his video.
So it's intentionally insultingly deceitful.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
So watch this.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Throw the rock and hydra hand is what my people
call that. Yeah, cowardice. So Donald Trump's what was that?
The choir, the January sixth choir, the people that were
in prison or whatever, they did a rendition of America,
the Beautiful Pledge, allegiance to some some song, right, maybe
(11:57):
the national anthem, who knows, but.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
It was like January. The supporters of the January sixth
insurrection that it went to jail. That song ended up
going to number one, not necessarily because it was quality
music or it it slaps or it was you know
what it was. Even this song right here, we know
that it don't slap because it was getting a thousand,
what was it, one thousand sales per week prior to
(12:21):
the controversy. People weren't checking for it. It's like you said,
a troll job. So these things that the January sixth choired,
this sort of thing and other things are kind of
an act of solidarity on that part. Their response to
the I'm a huge fan of wokeness. I'd rather be
woken in sleep Dog ten times out of ten for real.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
And I want to say this before you move on,
but because I want to quote an actual source and
not just myself, Rolling Stone says the song felled twenty
four spots. That was earlier today. I don't see the song,
but Rolling Stone does this for a living, so I'm
going to lead on them, okay, but it still makes
the point. Yeah, typically of song reaches number one, it'll
be there for longer than a week, and if it
(13:03):
does drop to five two, yeah, it drops to four,
not twenty five.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah. So anyway, that's solidarity in that organization around And
the sad part is that they it's like almost like
these people know that it's hate. They know they're like,
they'll call it frustration, the will call it fed up
(13:28):
and fed up with the you know whatever.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
But it's hate.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
It's all it is, right, we know that. But they
needed to be anything other than racism. That's why they
don't like that word, because that means that they've lost
the narrative.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Right, you can't be you and they're a bad person, right,
And they can't want to be perceived as bad people.
They're just upset, Right, how can I best tired of
being marginalized? They're just acknowledging that racism towards white people
is a far worse problem than racism towards non whites
in this country.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
You should check out our check out our show from
last week.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
If you all they're trying to express, you want to
get you specifically to understand that, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Well, activities like this that push uh a hateful message,
that fly in the face of what is simply an
affirmation that black lives have worth is on its face,
(14:30):
insulting and hurtful, and they will adopt any possible vantage
point other than that it's glaringly obvious vantage point to
make their case.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
It's the reason why the social constructs of black and
white were so brilliantly placed. Right all of you immigrants
that have come here that are not from Africa, rewind
that don't look like you're from Africa, whose skin isn't dark,
who lack melanin, can identify as white. And once we
(15:07):
do that, the drastic at that point, the drastic minority
of people will be identified as black. So even though
we're very very different. We're German, we're Irish, we're Australian.
You know, we're French, we're Swiss, were Spanish or Portuguese,
(15:29):
even we're white, all of us. And once I can
get all of you to identify as white, I can
then present white as superior and everything else as beneath
what you was talking about here is and then the
rest of your life without knowing it because it's an ideology.
Now you have been indoctrinated to the idea of simple
(15:55):
self protection, self preservation.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
If you will.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Kind well to do people, fight, vote, sing, march, and
organize to protect the social construct of white supremacy because
it is drastically beneficial to them.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Right now, I need to fill in a gap here, please,
So if you look throughout history until about maybe the
late fifteen hundreds, early sixteen hundreds, you won't notice white people.
(16:34):
Of course, our modern interpretation of what white people is.
Those people existed, but you won't find them. They're not
documented anywhere any more than black people existed prior to
this time. The term white people was created to delineate
(16:57):
the non slave class from the slave class. In other words,
based on your appearance, you could tell a person's status
in a given society black because of the slave trade.
So shout out to Great Britain, Britain, and the Spanish,
and the Portuguese and the Americans. And let's not pretend
(17:19):
like the Middle East, those those countries and there didn't
have anything to do with it as well. And so
this is the origin story of black people as a
term and white people as a term.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And even then, during your progressive movements, call those black
people African Americans and everyone else just American.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Mmm. Now, let me let me take that a step further.
So this country has used that white supremacy at several
points to let's let's say, after several points after slavery ended,
to continue to benefit from the presence of black people,
(18:03):
black bodies and to profit off of black labor. And
I'm not just talking about prisons. I'm talking about land theft.
I'm talking about UH a series of aggressive acts, political
acts and uh fiscal acts, you know, laws enacted to
(18:27):
uphold a system that protects white interests and doesn't consider
black interests. And I'm not just talking about Jim Crow
and you know, the Black Codes, and I'm not just
talking about the GI Bill, and I'm not just talking
about redlining. It's it's so much deepail, Like like land theft,
(18:51):
we could we could just start there, billions and billions
of dollars just just completely taken washed off of the record,
and then guess who ended up with that land? Right, So,
so for many years, black people have borne the brunt
of a system that protects white interests. I'm not making
this stuff up either. Why would I do that. I
(19:12):
could be easily debunked. I just have happened to be
able to do so much research over the past few
years especially, and then now I'm condensing it into a conversation.
So when we talk about this guy Jason Alden and
his song, and it's very pro white supremacist messaging, dog
whistle messaging, and then we see the solidarity around it.
(19:37):
This is something that we all need to be made
aware of because, as Malcolm X said often enough. His
quote goes, we are not outnumbered, we are out organized,
and we have to know that even though it's hate,
it's very, very sophisticated hate. It's sophisticated at the polls.
(20:00):
It's sophisticated to trick Billboard charts algorithms, right because they're
not increasing the amount of radio plays. So that's clicks,
that's downloads, that streams, that's everything of people saying this
is the reality that I want to live in. I'm
going to do this a thousand times.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Rolling Stone notes the songs drop from number one to
twenty one is among the biggest falls from the top
one hundred in the charts history. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Now I'm going to finish reading this article just so
I can finish painting the picture. But I have to
say his piece too, just to be fair or whatever.
I guess, all right, just last week alone, So again
Ques reading more current from a more current source. I'm
reading the source that we built this segment around, So
mine is a little bit older than what Ques reading. Anyway,
(20:53):
just last week alone, Aldin's song earned about two hundred
and twenty eight twenty eight thousand digital songs sales and
eleven point six million streams. For reference, the song has
two hundred and thirty eight digital sales all time, meaning
that around ninety five percent of the sales came last
week after the controversy started. Fifty of its nearly twenty
(21:15):
one million all time streams came last week as well.
Aldine faced diiff competition from bds's Jung Kook, who said, uh, well,
I guess we don't need to read that anymore anyway.
Regardless of where a small town landed on the chart,
the track has become yet another dog whistle for conservatives
how about that, who have bemoaned the critiques as examples
(21:35):
of so called cancel culture. Right wing entrepreneur and long
shot presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, whoever that say we did
last one I know he is. I'm just being playing,
tweeted last week that he'd be playing the song at
rallies and encouraging followers to drive the song up the charts,
before doing his best to change the subject to hip hop.
(21:57):
Ramaswammy eagerly echoed the song veil threatening tone quote, it'd
be a real shame if the song hits number one.
Other accounts of referenced the bud Light boycott, some conservatives
tries to get off the ground after the beer brand
partnered with trans TikTok star Dylan mulvaney, or the campaign
to boost Qanana Jason thriller Sound of Freedom all Right,
(22:19):
now Here We Go. Aldine himself has repeatedly dismissed the backlash,
denying that try That in a Small Town is a
pro lynching song. He says, quote there's not a single
lyric in the song that references race or points to it.
He wrote on social media. Obviously the video told a
much different story. But you know this is what he's
hiding behind. Easy so they say, whats your chest if
(22:41):
you mean it otherwise, don't play with people. But you know, anyway,
let me finish read all right. On Friday night, Al
Dean addressed a controversy during a concert in Cincinnati, seeming
to applaud efforts to cash in on the song's notoriety. Quote,
you guys know how it is. It's cancel culture. It's
a thing. It's somehow where if people don't like what
you say, they try and make sure they can cancel you,
(23:02):
which means they try to ruin your life, ruin everything.
One thing I saw this week was a bunch of
country music fans that can see through a lot of
the bs. All Right, I saw country music fans rally
like I've never seen before, and that was pretty bad,
as in good. I gotta say thank you guys so much.
So this is his statement on the whole thing. Just
(23:24):
to be fair. Obviously, we know that it can only
be one of two things, what we believe it to be,
which is outright racism and you know, him taking advantage
of that and making music about that, which we don't
believe is kind at all.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Or and then there's the easy veil of just painting
that not as racism but as patriotism.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Or yeah that, but thinly veiled patriotism is or sorry,
thinly veiled racism is.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Well, I guess it's one of the same. That's what
I'm trying to say. That's the part that's most terrified.
So it's happened in the American flag, and it's okay.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
So watch this. It's either him making a song about hate,
or it's him taking advantage of people who have hateful tendencies.
All right, time for the Way Black History Fact. Today's
Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Underground Beach Club
from the Streets to the Beach for the for the
latest in beach where visit Underground Beach Club dot com. Again,
(24:27):
Q is going to be reading three different parts of
our Way Black History Fact. We're gonna be talking about
the ship Harriet, the second, which was named after a
slave ship. We're going to be talking about the Alabama
Riverfront slave trade. And we're talking about how a black
man patented the folding chair that was famously used in
the Alabama Riverfront brawl. Right floors yours?
Speaker 3 (24:50):
What's the word I'm looking for? The serendipity.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
It's funny that patent.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
We'll talk about that later. Literally sourcing from sports keya
dot com. The Harriotship has a long standing history, as
it was first launched in Liverpool in seventeen eighty six,
initially sailing between Liverpool and Barbados. The ship was later
captured by a French ship, but the British Navy was
quick to recapture it. The Harriot was a slave ship
(25:17):
back in the seventeen hundreds. From seventeen ninety eight to
eighteen oh five it carried thousands of slaves to Barbados
and then back to Liverpool. However, post it was owned
by Barton and Co. And also cruise between Liverpool and Africa.
It now serves as a relaxing cruise and as one
of Montgomery's tourist attractions, which offers visitors dinner, dancing, live
(25:42):
entertainment and more. The idea that a slave ship can
become a tourist attraction in this country and clearly be
a profitable one. It is just part of the American dream,
I guess.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
But funnily enough, all those black people jumped off of
that slave ship and got busy, so you know, interesting,
how true? Indeed, sometimes things come together, all right.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
This source from CBS News. Montgomery, Alabama, played a central
role in the slave trade. In downtown Montgomery, not far
from where the brawl took place, a historic marker commemorates
the city's role in the transatlantic slave trade. Joshua D. Rothman,
a historian and chair of the Department of History at
the University of Alabama, told CNN the state played a
(26:25):
quote substantial role in the domestic slave trade end quote.
Until the Civil War in the mid eighteen hundreds, thousands
of enslaved people were transported on steamboats and railroads from
New Orlands up the Alabama River to Montgomery. According to
the Montgomery based Equal Justice Initiatives, many of the rail
routes have been constructed by slave labor. Enslaves people would
(26:48):
arrive on Montgomery's river front or at the train station
where they could be chained together and paraded down Commerce Street.
That used to be like a celebratory act. There's something
that inspired people, made people happy that it would rile
people up. Let's march these slaves down the street, shackle
together so that people can celebrate it.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Cattle drive.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
They would later be sold in the city slave markets.
By eighteen sixty, there were more than four hundred and
thirty five thousand enslaved people in the state. That's in
one state, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. By the
start of the Civil War a year later, Montgomery was
among the most prominent slave trading communities in the state,
and the mid eighteen hundreds, thousand enslaved people were transported
(27:32):
on steamboats railroads from New Orleans up Alabama River to
Montgomery and Montgomery having a prominent slave trading community in
the state. Quote the slavery's impact could be seen everywhere,
Rothman said in an email to CNN. He added that
enslave labor fueled the local economy and influenced everything from
(27:54):
political order to religious life. If you scratch hard enough
at the surface of any of those matters and many
other matters today, you'll likely find the legacy of slavery
living somewhere underneath facts. It was once the capital of
the Confederacy. Montgomery is often called the cradle of the
(28:14):
Confederacy because in eighteen sixty one, it briefly served as
the first capital of the Confederate States of America, wow
eleven states has succeeded from the Union. After Abraham Lincoln
was elected President of the US in eighteen sixty Delegates
from six of those states South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
(28:34):
and Louisiana convened in Montgomery in February eighteen sixty one
to officially establish their own government, and May of eighteen
sixty one, the Confederate government moved from Montgomery to Richmond, Virginia,
which retained the capital of the Confederacy until the end
of the.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Civil War wasn't very long.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Yeah, you kind of think this stuff was thousands of
years ago, you know what I mean? Like we have
generation removed, right, your parents' parents. That's it thoughtcold dot
com this one is I'll continue the volding chair. On
July seventh, nineteen eleven, an African American man named Nathaniel
(29:16):
Alexander of Lynchburg, Virginia patented a volding chair. According to
his patent, Nathaniel Alexander designed his chair to be used
in schools, churches, and auditoriums. His design included a book
rest that was usable for the person sitting in the
seat behind, and was ideal for church or choir use.
Patton nine nine seven one zero eight is the only
(29:39):
invention on record for Nathaniel Alexander, but on March tenth,
nineteen eleven, his application was witnessed by two people, James
Rodiggs and C. A. Lindsay. Alexander's volding chair is not
the first volding chair patent in the United States. His
innovation was that it included a book rest, making get
suitable for use in places where the back of one
chair could be used as a desk or shelf by
(30:00):
the person seated behind. This would certainly be convenient with
setting up rolls of chairs required so they could rest
music on the chair ahead of each singer, or for
churches where a prayer book, hymnal or Bible could be
placed on the reading shelf during the service. Voting chairs
allow the space to be used for other purposes when
there is not a class or church service. Today, many
(30:22):
congregations meeting spaces that used to be large big box stores, supermarkets,
or other large cavernous rooms. Using voting chairs set up
only during services, they are able to quickly turn spaces
into a church. In the early part of the twentieth century,
congregations likewise might have met outdoors and warehouses, barns, or
other spaces that didn't have fixed seating or pews.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
So again, I think that statement where it says, if
you scratch hard enough at the surface of any of
those matters and many others today, you'll likely find the
legacy of slavery lying somewhere underneath brawl video. We didn't
have to scratch very hard, and you could see a
lot of history there, and that history matters. Those people
(31:09):
still that's not thousands of years ago, like you said,
it's within a couple of lifetimes. It's really easy to
pass on hateful ideas about different people to the next generation.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Another thing that we might have to follow up on
when we get a chance. There's a I want to
make sure I'm using the right word. There's some synergy,
some connectiveness between areas where there are Trump rallies and an
increase in anti black violence session even if it's not causality,
(31:42):
you don't say, just something to consider and maybe that
we will have a chance to talk about on the
show sometime soon.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Well, while we're here, I want to say that neither
of us candone any violence. That's not going to be
the answer. That's not how you treat your brothers and
your sisters. But we do recognize that sometimes it's necessary
to fight fire with fire. We are I'm definitely a pacifist.
I don't believe in any of that stuff. But you know,
(32:12):
we hope that we've helped you understand a little bit more.
We're still coming to understand these things ourselves, and we
don't profess to be experts in this space at all.
We are doing our best to be brothers to you
to give you what it is that we feel you
might need to become the best ally that you can
be so that you can have the conversations and make
the impact.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
And we might not be experts, but we are probably
more aggressively than a lot of people seeking that information.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Yeah, very proactive, that's very fair. So with that in mind,
i'd like to thank you once again for tuning in
the Civic Cipher. As always, I'm your host Rams's job.
I am q ward on all the social media's and stuff. Indeed,
and this is Cific Cipher.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Man.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
We appreciate you guys. I love Ramsey's job. I don't
know if I've said that on the show before, but
I need it to. I forgot that right now.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I love you too, man. All right, well, hit the
website Civiccipher dot calm. Download this and any previous pisodes,
make a donation. The show grows with your support, and
follow us on social media at Civic Sipher. You can
goalt of this in any previous episodes and until next week. Y'all,
pace pace, y'all, like yo, we had to live. These
brothers a fabulous our.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Lady showing you where ROMB travel is spig tones from
sunlight to move, busting on stage like the fights and
move rove my mic back.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
You're like that journalist with journalist too.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
We can strike back called borders with waters from headquarters
behind in the beline sides up and the borders with
press passes.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
We bring it to you as it happens. The streets
love popping from music.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
You're wrapping the street compand the slash peek expando. You're
gonna fight the slander with the proper propaganda.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
What's happening? It's how You've got any questions to ask?
Speaker 2 (33:46):
If Deduce is just a TV show you're passing and
this from a white wartime journalist headlines.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Wait, you'll previs and read this like this, like what
like this like
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