September 23, 2023 • 23 mins
In the first part of our show, we discuss some national stories including a Black boy who nearly drowned while his White friends pushed him under and called him ‘George Floyd.’ We also talk about the optics surrounding the smash-and-grab shoplifting videos that have been circulating as well as the murder and cover-up of the police shooting of Eddie Irizarry.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think it's about time we get caught up on
some stories broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd
like to welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher.
I am your host, Ramsey's job.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
He is Ramsey's job. I am q Ward. You my
friends are listening to Civic Cycles.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Indeed you are, and there's a lot for you to
stick around for. We mentioned last week, because it was
our three year anniversary episode, that we had a lot
of stories that we really wanted to cover. Well, I'll
tell you what. We are going to cover them this week.
Some of those stories include the when we mentioned this
the black child that was nearly drowned by his group
(00:38):
of white friends as they were saying that he was
George Floyd because he couldn't breathe. We're talking about the
smash and grab optics and narratives. You know, we're seeing
all these smash and grab robberies and you know, we
know wrong is wrong.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
And I've seen mass media build on that narrative.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Exact we started talking about it, so we're going to
talk about that as well. We're also gonna spend a
little time talking about Eddie Irizari. We didn't get a
chance to talk about his story last week, and so
we're gonna spend a little time talking about that. I
also want to make sure that we get some time
in to discuss the twenty three year old Janabi Candula
(01:18):
who was killed in Seattle. I think she was crossing
the street and the officer was kind of making fun
of her, saying that she had limited value. So we're
going to talk about that story as well. And then
we're going to spend the last part of the show
talking about police training and a specific story where a
(01:38):
police trainer was training a new recruit and shot her
in the training classroom and how this narrative of police
training can get caught away from us. And for those
of you that follow us on social media, you know
this has been something we've been talking about and battling
with the trolls on social media for some time. But
did that officer survive that incident? She is gone first
(02:00):
and foremost, though, it's time for some ebony excellence. This
week's any Excellence is brought to you by Major Threads
for Innovative Fashionable Sports, where checkmajorthreads dot com. I would
go through this fast, but I think you this is
a better fit for you. Why not give us some
ebony excellence. We're talking about Dion Sanders Coach Prime.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
If we weren't sitting seated in the studio right now,
I would do some moves on Coach Prime's behalf. But instead,
let's just get into this story. Dion Sanders knows the
game of football and advertising like few others. Evidenced by
two big wins. On September sixteenth, Sanders entered into a
collaboration with Blenders I Wear to capitalize on shades that
(02:45):
he often wears while patrolling sidelines at University of Colorado
football games. According to Blenders and Prime storefront, the shades
retail for sixty seven dollars, but with a coupon, first
time buyers get a fifteen percent discount. During an appearance
on ESPN's First Take, Sanders handed out pairs to Stephen A. Smith,
(03:05):
Molly Carum, and Shannon Sharp. He also gave shade to
Dwayne the Rock Johnson on ESPN's College Game Day. Johnson
was serving as a guest on the show alongside the Coach,
wearing a fresh pair as his surprise appearance on September fifteenth,
As he was going to be appearing on WWE's SmackDown.
(03:27):
Sanders also gave shade to the entire football team, and
footage of this went viral. In the video, Sanders implied
that the Colorado State University head coach j Norvale gave
them ammunition when he criticized Sanders' habit of wearing sunglasses
and a hat during his interviews. Sanders told the team
they had messed around and made it personal. Now we're
(03:48):
going to kick their butt and it's going to be
business but also pleasure. He then revealed to the team
that his line of shades with Blenders Eyewear had done
a one point two million dollars in sales in twenty
four hours. Yeah, which is pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah Yeah, and all that because well, I forget the
guy's name, but he said that Sanders wasn't properly raised.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, his mama didn't raise him right.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Something like that, And so I feel like that's of
any excellence. I want to make sure that we shout
out Black Enterprise for that reading. And it is time
to move on. So finally we get to talk about
some of these really heartbreaking stories that have been in
the media. The first one and the one that I
(04:35):
think that we spent the most time kind of going
back and forth about was the well. The headline reads,
black kid invite invited by white friends to swim, then
held him under when he said he couldn't breathe. They
called him George Floyd. So I'll read a bit from
NBC News to kind of paint the picture for those
of you who don't know. A white teenager was indicted
(04:58):
on an attempted murder charge in massach Sits after he
was accused of calling a black child a racial slur
and repeatedly dunking him underwater as the child said he
did not know how to swim. The fourteen year old
suspect is accused of taunting the victim on July nineteenth
at Goose Pond in shape him. I believe that's how
I say that, Court documents said another juvenile, also white,
(05:20):
laughed and called the victim George Floyd, referring to the
black man who died in Minneapolis police custody in twenty twenty.
According to the documents, the implication being the kid was
saying I can't breathe, and then you know, they were
making fun of.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
What I'm saying. Imagine the kids thinking that was funny,
and the type of indoctrination that exists in their homes
where they thought that was fun.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Right, And you know, while we're here, before we get
to the next part of the story, I think that
you bring up an excellent point. There's been this push
to erode American history, black people, specifically in the plight
of black people from American history. It's the attack on
(06:04):
CRT that's what it's been dubbed, but.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Which is just a clever way to use vague language
and misunderstood language so that people can lose sight of
what they actually mean. So this critical race theory turn
out there so that people can be distracted by something
and we can introduce our own definition of it because
people aren't familiar.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
So here's where this becomes problematic because, as you know,
the people that are centered in the middle of this debate,
these are children, These are school children. And this is
proof positive why understanding history is important. It is important
(06:54):
to impart on children as they're forming social bonds and
as there you know, becoming the men and women and
people that they're going to become ultimately the capacity to
do with what empathy they have what is right, and
(07:15):
they need the connective elements to connect themselves. And if
they don't know what's offensive, what's hurtful, they don't understand
the history. They hurt something and they prot it without
understanding the weight of it. You end up with situations
like this go ahead.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
That's what makes it so criminal because the people behind this,
they know that they know that these children are at
the age and the time in their lives where their
minds can be shaped the most. So they want to
indoctrinate them with this very very false version of history
and disguise it as them protecting them, when really they
just want them to have a different version of history
(07:51):
when they grow up. They want them to have a
different mindset. They don't want them to have or to
use that natural empathy because that's a natural That's what
I would think.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I think that they are They're targeting the youth intentionally.
Let's start at the education level with removing the idea
that we've ever done anything wrong. You know, slaves did
in fact benefit from correct.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah? So no, no, okay, I was I was, I
was saying yeah facetiously, but the answer is no, said
listen for people that might believe that that there might
be a moticum of truth there. Please understand that everything
(08:37):
that slaves were quote unquote taught in the US, that
had all been practiced in Africa already for eons, So
nobody had to come over here and learn anything. And
if the cost of learning skills that benefited them was slavery,
that's that cost is way too high, four hundred years
(09:00):
slavery and uh subjugation.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Wait, if the cost is mass murder, trafficking, kidnapping, raping,
and medical experiments and genocide like, that's that's.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Way to learn skills that we already had after Also,
it's a slap in the face to the history of Africa.
And I know that if you believe that slaves taught skills,
you already don't know the history of Africa, and I
feel bad for you. But if you ever felt like
creating a little bit more strengthening your relationship with your
(09:33):
fellow man, in particular your African original human beings on
this planet, those people learn the history of Africa, and
then you will see how insulting that attempted that narrative,
their attempting to spend is I want to. I want
to shift back to this story and these kids too,
(09:55):
because you you brought up an interesting point that the
human being's impulse is to be empathetic. Right now, I
won't say that kids don't horse play. That's the thing. Okay,
I won't say that kids aren't mean. That's the thing.
Kids are learning how to be the people that they will.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
In some of those cases, they're not trying to be mean.
It's just the behavior that they do as horse playing,
or as kidding around, or even in some cases, as
trying to show someone that they like them. They just
end up doing things that are mean because they don't
they haven't really processed, you know, social interaction or the
proper way to do those things exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Now, when you look at the way that these children
were approaching this situation, a couple things jump out at me.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
At least.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
The first thing is, George Floyd's name has no value
to these children right now. Say what you will about
George Floyd, how he lived his life, whatever, whatever. There's
a lot of people that say a lot of things.
I realize that people are imperfect. That is the nature
(11:07):
of life. We try to be better people every single day.
But in George Floyd's last moments, the reason why there
was this uproar was because he was choked to death
over a potentially counterfeit twenty dollars bill, I want to say,
(11:29):
for eight minutes. So not only was he killed, he
died in agony, wailing and screaming and calling for his
mother while the police snuffed out his life. And when
you think about the twenty dollars bill and you think
about what the purpose of police is supposed to be
like in the minds and hearts of the citizens, you know,
(11:52):
protecting I don't know, the community from a potentially counterfeit
twenty dollars bill. By ending a man's life with your
knee on his neck for eight minutes, watching everybody witness
this public lunching while they stand around helpless because you
have a gun. That doesn't really fall in line with
my idea of public service and protecting and serving the community.
(12:13):
That really seems more like very morbid and very I
don't know if you're it's like demonic almost right. But
again back to these children, there's no reverence there. It's
almost like it's something to be made fun of. And
(12:34):
you know, when we get to the last story where
the police officers laughing at the young woman who was killed.
He's laughing at her. These kids are laughing at George
Floyd's name.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Imagine what it took for those kids to even have
his name as a reference for making fun of.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
They know the story, but yes, it was not just gravity.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
It's not just that they don't value it. They've been
given that name in some context around in this kid
he can't breathe, he's George Floyd like. So it's not
like this is a namely herd that they don't associate
with anything just black. They associated specifically with I can't
breathe and they think that's funny. And I think that's
(13:14):
something that's taught at the the parental level. Somebody had
to plant that seed into their minds in that way.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And if the parents can't teach empathy and the schools
can't create a pathway from real historical events and real
harm that has been done to black and brown communities
to a child's budding empathetic capacity, then we are headed
for a society where we are more strained in terms
(13:46):
of our relationships across our tribal and cultural lines, where
we are less interactive, and I think everybody loses as
a result of that. I want to finish reading this story, Andy,
We'll move on. The kid says water went into my
mouth and my nose and I could not breathe, the
victims said in a written statement to police. So I
shouted out that I can't breathe over and over and
(14:06):
tried to get his hands off me. The victim also
said that as the teen and the other person continue
to pull him under water, he started to feel lightheaded
and almost vomited, according to his written statement and a
police narrative, after he began to feel exhausted, he shouted,
he shouted for help. So again, kids are drowning, this
(14:26):
guy calling him George Floyd, calling him racial slurs. And
I think that that is that right there is where
we need to revisit that conversation, in particular in places
like Florida and Arkansas and Texas, I believe are the
three states where they've really tried their best to rewrite
history for the benefit of the parents of white children's sensibilities.
(14:53):
Conservative white parent the conservative parents of white children, those
parents's sensitivities. That's what I'm trying to say. All right,
let's move on. Let's talk a bit about the smash
and grab shoplifting stuff that's been taking place. I'll say
this first and foremost, those videos are intense, okay, And
(15:22):
I'm not going to pretend like everything is okay with
that and that there's a way to excuse that or
anything like that. But what I will talk about is
two things. One, it's not just black people doing that.
We've seen videos of non black people doing the same thing,
going into Dick Sporting Goods a white folks with the
(15:42):
white people hair, white skinned, white arms, you know what
I'm saying, No masks, no wide open like just going
in and getting what they got to get and bouncing right.
And of course we've seen all of the videos of
black people going into the luxury stores, right, and those
headlines I think hit a little different. And it's crazy
(16:03):
because it seems like when the media pushes it, it's
always the black people doing it, and when we come
across the videos on like social media or when people
send us links, it's to white people. In other words,
when it's black people, the media picks it up, and
when it's non black people, it just kind of feeds
the statistics.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
So an easier to sensationalize the black thugs that are
short of terrorizing shopping centers and luxury you know, fashion stores.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, and so wrong is wrong no matter who's doing it.
But the two things I want to say here is
that it's not just black people doing that. There's groups
of mobs of people that are not black, breaking in
stores and getting what they can and leaving. And for proof,
reach out to us on social media. It's aif, except
we'll send you the videos we've got. It's there's a thing,
(16:53):
and it's not like these are old videos or you
know anything. We'd like that. This is the stuff that's
happening alongside everything else. There are people who try to
get it how they live, I suppose, and we.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Have way more than enough content to show you guys
just in general of people doing things that are deplorable
black and white people. Though this is not a black problem.
This is a criminal problem.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah, and an economic problem because usually crime is it
develops out of poverty, you know what I mean. That's
just people are trying to come up and get as
comfortable as they can, and some people resort to some
desperate things that look a lot like going into a
store and stealing. But if you remember during Hurricane Katrina,
(17:39):
for those old enough to remember this, when black people
went in the stores, they called it looting, and when
white people went in the stores, they called it surviving.
Because nobody could go to the grocery store and buy food.
Nobody can go and get the clothes that were dry,
and nobody can go and get shoes and get you know,
toilet paper and whatever. So the people that went to
get what they could get, if they were black, they
(18:01):
were looters. If they were white, they were survivors. Yeah,
they were. They were just doing what they could to survive,
and so you got to be careful was necessary to survive,
right right. The other thing I want to say, the
other part of this is that what this does is
it gives retailers the ability to justify raising prices and
(18:25):
keeping prices high, and they can point at this criminal
behavior that has this sort of black face on it,
if you will, so that people aren't mad at the
retailers raising the prices, and that people can look at,
you know, everything that is not how do I say this,
(18:50):
They can insulate themselves from the root cause of the
problem and say it's these people that are causing these
problems in this country, right, And the retailers don't want
to be the greedy hogs, capitalist pigs, so now they
have a convenient scapegoat. But so they raise the prices.
Black kids get blamed for this, and the fact of
(19:11):
the matter is that most of the theft in these
stores is by employees. It also allows police to justify themselves, right,
because you know, there's been this push to defund the
police and reinvest in community resources to prevent the necessity
of the crimes that would actually have a real impact
on crime rates, not additional police, but this sort of
(19:35):
behavior and this narrative and these videos allow police to
justify themselves. Finally, I want to share this. The CEO
of Walmart says that he set himself the hype about
smash and grab theft is overblown, and he's the person
that also alluded to the fact that most of the
(19:55):
theft that stores experience that would lead to the increased
prices is by employees or other shrinkage. Smash and grab
stuff is very very rare, But if you've got security
cameras and it can make it for a good headline,
then then there's your headline there, and California is spending
two hundred and sixty seven million dollars to combat it.
(20:15):
I'm not going to say that that's good or bad
because we don't want it. But I just don't want
the narrative to be that black people are the only
people doing this and they're the reason for all the
ills the community. Black people are doing this, and so
is everybody else.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So the really interesting thing about that part, though, is
when has there been such a swift and when have
you seen a headline that said any county or you know,
municipality or local or state or federal government was using
close to three hundred million dollars to combat hunger or
(20:51):
to combat homelessness that help its citizens. Yeah, we got
three hundred million to spend in response to that luxury
store got robbed, that assurance that will get all that
money back.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
If they spent that two hundred and sixty seven million
dollars on homelessness, that might make a bigger impact on
crime rates than anything. But they feel like this is
a specific thing, and that's you got to play the
media game in the political game. And I don't love that,
but I need you, our listener, to be as informed
as you can be, and to give you these additional perspectives,
(21:22):
because without media like this, you might just get one
side of it. And our job is to be very
critical of not just stories we hear, but of the
media too. So finally, I want to share a bit
about the police shooting of Eddie Irizari, who shot in
the head while sitting in his car. And this is
sort of the police were lying in their account because
it was filmed by a neighbor and the film came out,
(21:44):
So I'm just going to read this real quick. This
comes from Wikipedia. On August fourteen, Philadelphia police told the
media that the incident began with officers pulled over a
car that was driving erradically. Then as officers approached the car,
Irizari stepped out of the car with a knife and
the officers gave multiple commands from the drop, but Irizari
lunch death the officers prompting the shooting. On August fifteenth,
Philadelphia police changed their story, stating that Irazari was actually
(22:07):
in the car when he was shot Philadelphia. Philadelphia Police
Commissioner Danielle Outlaw stated that officers body worn camera footage
made it very clear that what was initially reported, what
was not, what actually happened. On September eighth, twenty twenty three,
Mark Dill, who fired the fatal shots, was charged with
(22:27):
first degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, and simple assault,
as well as reckless endangerment of another person and official oppression. Now,
what did the police department get for lying? But you
know anything about that? Who knows? But I got to
(22:48):
say again, the police are very good at covering up
their own crimes. We only know about this because there
was additional footage, and that is often the way it goes.
So let's rethink policing and stick around for more, because
we've got a lot more in store.
I think it's about time we get caught up on
some stories broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd
like to welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher.
I am your host, Ramsey's job.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
He is Ramsey's job. I am q Ward. You my
friends are listening to Civic Cycles.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Indeed you are, and there's a lot for you to
stick around for. We mentioned last week, because it was
our three year anniversary episode, that we had a lot
of stories that we really wanted to cover. Well, I'll
tell you what. We are going to cover them this week.
Some of those stories include the when we mentioned this
the black child that was nearly drowned by his group
(00:38):
of white friends as they were saying that he was
George Floyd because he couldn't breathe. We're talking about the
smash and grab optics and narratives. You know, we're seeing
all these smash and grab robberies and you know, we
know wrong is wrong.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
And I've seen mass media build on that narrative.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Exact we started talking about it, so we're going to
talk about that as well. We're also gonna spend a
little time talking about Eddie Irizari. We didn't get a
chance to talk about his story last week, and so
we're gonna spend a little time talking about that. I
also want to make sure that we get some time
in to discuss the twenty three year old Janabi Candula
(01:18):
who was killed in Seattle. I think she was crossing
the street and the officer was kind of making fun
of her, saying that she had limited value. So we're
going to talk about that story as well. And then
we're going to spend the last part of the show
talking about police training and a specific story where a
(01:38):
police trainer was training a new recruit and shot her
in the training classroom and how this narrative of police
training can get caught away from us. And for those
of you that follow us on social media, you know
this has been something we've been talking about and battling
with the trolls on social media for some time. But
did that officer survive that incident? She is gone first
(02:00):
and foremost, though, it's time for some ebony excellence. This
week's any Excellence is brought to you by Major Threads
for Innovative Fashionable Sports, where checkmajorthreads dot com. I would
go through this fast, but I think you this is
a better fit for you. Why not give us some
ebony excellence. We're talking about Dion Sanders Coach Prime.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
If we weren't sitting seated in the studio right now,
I would do some moves on Coach Prime's behalf. But instead,
let's just get into this story. Dion Sanders knows the
game of football and advertising like few others. Evidenced by
two big wins. On September sixteenth, Sanders entered into a
collaboration with Blenders I Wear to capitalize on shades that
(02:45):
he often wears while patrolling sidelines at University of Colorado
football games. According to Blenders and Prime storefront, the shades
retail for sixty seven dollars, but with a coupon, first
time buyers get a fifteen percent discount. During an appearance
on ESPN's First Take, Sanders handed out pairs to Stephen A. Smith,
(03:05):
Molly Carum, and Shannon Sharp. He also gave shade to
Dwayne the Rock Johnson on ESPN's College Game Day. Johnson
was serving as a guest on the show alongside the Coach,
wearing a fresh pair as his surprise appearance on September fifteenth,
As he was going to be appearing on WWE's SmackDown.
(03:27):
Sanders also gave shade to the entire football team, and
footage of this went viral. In the video, Sanders implied
that the Colorado State University head coach j Norvale gave
them ammunition when he criticized Sanders' habit of wearing sunglasses
and a hat during his interviews. Sanders told the team
they had messed around and made it personal. Now we're
(03:48):
going to kick their butt and it's going to be
business but also pleasure. He then revealed to the team
that his line of shades with Blenders Eyewear had done
a one point two million dollars in sales in twenty
four hours. Yeah, which is pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah Yeah, and all that because well, I forget the
guy's name, but he said that Sanders wasn't properly raised.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, his mama didn't raise him right.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Something like that, And so I feel like that's of
any excellence. I want to make sure that we shout
out Black Enterprise for that reading. And it is time
to move on. So finally we get to talk about
some of these really heartbreaking stories that have been in
the media. The first one and the one that I
(04:35):
think that we spent the most time kind of going
back and forth about was the well. The headline reads,
black kid invite invited by white friends to swim, then
held him under when he said he couldn't breathe. They
called him George Floyd. So I'll read a bit from
NBC News to kind of paint the picture for those
of you who don't know. A white teenager was indicted
(04:58):
on an attempted murder charge in massach Sits after he
was accused of calling a black child a racial slur
and repeatedly dunking him underwater as the child said he
did not know how to swim. The fourteen year old
suspect is accused of taunting the victim on July nineteenth
at Goose Pond in shape him. I believe that's how
I say that, Court documents said another juvenile, also white,
(05:20):
laughed and called the victim George Floyd, referring to the
black man who died in Minneapolis police custody in twenty twenty.
According to the documents, the implication being the kid was
saying I can't breathe, and then you know, they were
making fun of.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
What I'm saying. Imagine the kids thinking that was funny,
and the type of indoctrination that exists in their homes
where they thought that was fun.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Right, And you know, while we're here, before we get
to the next part of the story, I think that
you bring up an excellent point. There's been this push
to erode American history, black people, specifically in the plight
of black people from American history. It's the attack on
(06:04):
CRT that's what it's been dubbed, but.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Which is just a clever way to use vague language
and misunderstood language so that people can lose sight of
what they actually mean. So this critical race theory turn
out there so that people can be distracted by something
and we can introduce our own definition of it because
people aren't familiar.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
So here's where this becomes problematic because, as you know,
the people that are centered in the middle of this debate,
these are children, These are school children. And this is
proof positive why understanding history is important. It is important
(06:54):
to impart on children as they're forming social bonds and
as there you know, becoming the men and women and
people that they're going to become ultimately the capacity to
do with what empathy they have what is right, and
(07:15):
they need the connective elements to connect themselves. And if
they don't know what's offensive, what's hurtful, they don't understand
the history. They hurt something and they prot it without
understanding the weight of it. You end up with situations
like this go ahead.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
That's what makes it so criminal because the people behind this,
they know that they know that these children are at
the age and the time in their lives where their
minds can be shaped the most. So they want to
indoctrinate them with this very very false version of history
and disguise it as them protecting them, when really they
just want them to have a different version of history
(07:51):
when they grow up. They want them to have a
different mindset. They don't want them to have or to
use that natural empathy because that's a natural That's what
I would think.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I think that they are They're targeting the youth intentionally.
Let's start at the education level with removing the idea
that we've ever done anything wrong. You know, slaves did
in fact benefit from correct.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah? So no, no, okay, I was I was, I
was saying yeah facetiously, but the answer is no, said
listen for people that might believe that that there might
be a moticum of truth there. Please understand that everything
(08:37):
that slaves were quote unquote taught in the US, that
had all been practiced in Africa already for eons, So
nobody had to come over here and learn anything. And
if the cost of learning skills that benefited them was slavery,
that's that cost is way too high, four hundred years
(09:00):
slavery and uh subjugation.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Wait, if the cost is mass murder, trafficking, kidnapping, raping,
and medical experiments and genocide like, that's that's.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Way to learn skills that we already had after Also,
it's a slap in the face to the history of Africa.
And I know that if you believe that slaves taught skills,
you already don't know the history of Africa, and I
feel bad for you. But if you ever felt like
creating a little bit more strengthening your relationship with your
(09:33):
fellow man, in particular your African original human beings on
this planet, those people learn the history of Africa, and
then you will see how insulting that attempted that narrative,
their attempting to spend is I want to. I want
to shift back to this story and these kids too,
(09:55):
because you you brought up an interesting point that the
human being's impulse is to be empathetic. Right now, I
won't say that kids don't horse play. That's the thing. Okay,
I won't say that kids aren't mean. That's the thing.
Kids are learning how to be the people that they will.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
In some of those cases, they're not trying to be mean.
It's just the behavior that they do as horse playing,
or as kidding around, or even in some cases, as
trying to show someone that they like them. They just
end up doing things that are mean because they don't
they haven't really processed, you know, social interaction or the
proper way to do those things exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Now, when you look at the way that these children
were approaching this situation, a couple things jump out at me.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
At least.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
The first thing is, George Floyd's name has no value
to these children right now. Say what you will about
George Floyd, how he lived his life, whatever, whatever. There's
a lot of people that say a lot of things.
I realize that people are imperfect. That is the nature
(11:07):
of life. We try to be better people every single day.
But in George Floyd's last moments, the reason why there
was this uproar was because he was choked to death
over a potentially counterfeit twenty dollars bill, I want to say,
(11:29):
for eight minutes. So not only was he killed, he
died in agony, wailing and screaming and calling for his
mother while the police snuffed out his life. And when
you think about the twenty dollars bill and you think
about what the purpose of police is supposed to be
like in the minds and hearts of the citizens, you know,
(11:52):
protecting I don't know, the community from a potentially counterfeit
twenty dollars bill. By ending a man's life with your
knee on his neck for eight minutes, watching everybody witness
this public lunching while they stand around helpless because you
have a gun. That doesn't really fall in line with
my idea of public service and protecting and serving the community.
(12:13):
That really seems more like very morbid and very I
don't know if you're it's like demonic almost right. But
again back to these children, there's no reverence there. It's
almost like it's something to be made fun of. And
(12:34):
you know, when we get to the last story where
the police officers laughing at the young woman who was killed.
He's laughing at her. These kids are laughing at George
Floyd's name.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Imagine what it took for those kids to even have
his name as a reference for making fun of.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
They know the story, but yes, it was not just gravity.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
It's not just that they don't value it. They've been
given that name in some context around in this kid
he can't breathe, he's George Floyd like. So it's not
like this is a namely herd that they don't associate
with anything just black. They associated specifically with I can't
breathe and they think that's funny. And I think that's
(13:14):
something that's taught at the the parental level. Somebody had
to plant that seed into their minds in that way.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And if the parents can't teach empathy and the schools
can't create a pathway from real historical events and real
harm that has been done to black and brown communities
to a child's budding empathetic capacity, then we are headed
for a society where we are more strained in terms
(13:46):
of our relationships across our tribal and cultural lines, where
we are less interactive, and I think everybody loses as
a result of that. I want to finish reading this story, Andy,
We'll move on. The kid says water went into my
mouth and my nose and I could not breathe, the
victims said in a written statement to police. So I
shouted out that I can't breathe over and over and
(14:06):
tried to get his hands off me. The victim also
said that as the teen and the other person continue
to pull him under water, he started to feel lightheaded
and almost vomited, according to his written statement and a
police narrative, after he began to feel exhausted, he shouted,
he shouted for help. So again, kids are drowning, this
(14:26):
guy calling him George Floyd, calling him racial slurs. And
I think that that is that right there is where
we need to revisit that conversation, in particular in places
like Florida and Arkansas and Texas, I believe are the
three states where they've really tried their best to rewrite
history for the benefit of the parents of white children's sensibilities.
(14:53):
Conservative white parent the conservative parents of white children, those
parents's sensitivities. That's what I'm trying to say. All right,
let's move on. Let's talk a bit about the smash
and grab shoplifting stuff that's been taking place. I'll say
this first and foremost, those videos are intense, okay, And
(15:22):
I'm not going to pretend like everything is okay with
that and that there's a way to excuse that or
anything like that. But what I will talk about is
two things. One, it's not just black people doing that.
We've seen videos of non black people doing the same thing,
going into Dick Sporting Goods a white folks with the
(15:42):
white people hair, white skinned, white arms, you know what
I'm saying, No masks, no wide open like just going
in and getting what they got to get and bouncing right.
And of course we've seen all of the videos of
black people going into the luxury stores, right, and those
headlines I think hit a little different. And it's crazy
(16:03):
because it seems like when the media pushes it, it's
always the black people doing it, and when we come
across the videos on like social media or when people
send us links, it's to white people. In other words,
when it's black people, the media picks it up, and
when it's non black people, it just kind of feeds
the statistics.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
So an easier to sensationalize the black thugs that are
short of terrorizing shopping centers and luxury you know, fashion stores.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, and so wrong is wrong no matter who's doing it.
But the two things I want to say here is
that it's not just black people doing that. There's groups
of mobs of people that are not black, breaking in
stores and getting what they can and leaving. And for proof,
reach out to us on social media. It's aif, except
we'll send you the videos we've got. It's there's a thing,
(16:53):
and it's not like these are old videos or you
know anything. We'd like that. This is the stuff that's
happening alongside everything else. There are people who try to
get it how they live, I suppose, and we.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Have way more than enough content to show you guys
just in general of people doing things that are deplorable
black and white people. Though this is not a black problem.
This is a criminal problem.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah, and an economic problem because usually crime is it
develops out of poverty, you know what I mean. That's
just people are trying to come up and get as
comfortable as they can, and some people resort to some
desperate things that look a lot like going into a
store and stealing. But if you remember during Hurricane Katrina,
(17:39):
for those old enough to remember this, when black people
went in the stores, they called it looting, and when
white people went in the stores, they called it surviving.
Because nobody could go to the grocery store and buy food.
Nobody can go and get the clothes that were dry,
and nobody can go and get shoes and get you know,
toilet paper and whatever. So the people that went to
get what they could get, if they were black, they
(18:01):
were looters. If they were white, they were survivors. Yeah,
they were. They were just doing what they could to survive,
and so you got to be careful was necessary to survive,
right right. The other thing I want to say, the
other part of this is that what this does is
it gives retailers the ability to justify raising prices and
(18:25):
keeping prices high, and they can point at this criminal
behavior that has this sort of black face on it,
if you will, so that people aren't mad at the
retailers raising the prices, and that people can look at,
you know, everything that is not how do I say this,
(18:50):
They can insulate themselves from the root cause of the
problem and say it's these people that are causing these
problems in this country, right, And the retailers don't want
to be the greedy hogs, capitalist pigs, so now they
have a convenient scapegoat. But so they raise the prices.
Black kids get blamed for this, and the fact of
(19:11):
the matter is that most of the theft in these
stores is by employees. It also allows police to justify themselves, right,
because you know, there's been this push to defund the
police and reinvest in community resources to prevent the necessity
of the crimes that would actually have a real impact
on crime rates, not additional police, but this sort of
(19:35):
behavior and this narrative and these videos allow police to
justify themselves. Finally, I want to share this. The CEO
of Walmart says that he set himself the hype about
smash and grab theft is overblown, and he's the person
that also alluded to the fact that most of the
(19:55):
theft that stores experience that would lead to the increased
prices is by employees or other shrinkage. Smash and grab
stuff is very very rare, But if you've got security
cameras and it can make it for a good headline,
then then there's your headline there, and California is spending
two hundred and sixty seven million dollars to combat it.
(20:15):
I'm not going to say that that's good or bad
because we don't want it. But I just don't want
the narrative to be that black people are the only
people doing this and they're the reason for all the
ills the community. Black people are doing this, and so
is everybody else.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So the really interesting thing about that part, though, is
when has there been such a swift and when have
you seen a headline that said any county or you know,
municipality or local or state or federal government was using
close to three hundred million dollars to combat hunger or
(20:51):
to combat homelessness that help its citizens. Yeah, we got
three hundred million to spend in response to that luxury
store got robbed, that assurance that will get all that
money back.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
If they spent that two hundred and sixty seven million
dollars on homelessness, that might make a bigger impact on
crime rates than anything. But they feel like this is
a specific thing, and that's you got to play the
media game in the political game. And I don't love that,
but I need you, our listener, to be as informed
as you can be, and to give you these additional perspectives,
(21:22):
because without media like this, you might just get one
side of it. And our job is to be very
critical of not just stories we hear, but of the
media too. So finally, I want to share a bit
about the police shooting of Eddie Irizari, who shot in
the head while sitting in his car. And this is
sort of the police were lying in their account because
it was filmed by a neighbor and the film came out,
(21:44):
So I'm just going to read this real quick. This
comes from Wikipedia. On August fourteen, Philadelphia police told the
media that the incident began with officers pulled over a
car that was driving erradically. Then as officers approached the car,
Irizari stepped out of the car with a knife and
the officers gave multiple commands from the drop, but Irizari
lunch death the officers prompting the shooting. On August fifteenth,
Philadelphia police changed their story, stating that Irazari was actually
(22:07):
in the car when he was shot Philadelphia. Philadelphia Police
Commissioner Danielle Outlaw stated that officers body worn camera footage
made it very clear that what was initially reported, what
was not, what actually happened. On September eighth, twenty twenty three,
Mark Dill, who fired the fatal shots, was charged with
(22:27):
first degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, and simple assault,
as well as reckless endangerment of another person and official oppression. Now,
what did the police department get for lying? But you
know anything about that? Who knows? But I got to
(22:48):
say again, the police are very good at covering up
their own crimes. We only know about this because there
was additional footage, and that is often the way it goes.
So let's rethink policing and stick around for more, because
we've got a lot more in store.
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