February 4, 2023 • 25 mins
In the first half of today’s show, we tell a foundational story of how we were pulled over in 2020 in Mississippi, harassed, profiled, and humiliated by law enforcement only to be released after no usable evidence was able to be procured and used against us.
www.civiccipher.com
Follow us: @CivicCipher @iamqward @ramsesja
Consideration for today's show was provided by:
Major Threads menswear www.MajorThreads.com
Hip Hop Weekly Magazine www.hiphopweekly.com
The Black Information Network Daily Podcast www.binnews.com
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/civiccipher?utm_source=search
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another episode of Civic Scipher. I'm your host
of Ramsey's job. He is. It's very important that people
know that.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I don't know if we say that enough that you
are Ray's Johdeed I am, and we out in the
public people.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Say it's very exciting. I am q Ward. Yes, this
is exciting. That's important and uh, it's a crazy time
in the country right now, and we've got to talk
to you. So that's what we're here to do. Stick
around because today we are going to be sharing some
stories about police and making the point that it's not
(00:39):
black or white, but rather making the point that it
is blue. And this is something that a lot of
people are not connecting, especially people that are far removed
from the goings on on the streets, the goings on
with respect to activism, the goings on with respect to
(01:02):
invisible social societal forces that keep us divided and keep
us from understanding the true reality of what it's like
to be in the other's shoes. So we're going to
spend a good part of the show talking about that
and again sharing some personal stories. We're also going to
be talking about for our way Black History fact, we're
(01:26):
going to be discussing the largest bank robbery in the
history of the United States of America. UH, just to
give you a brief view of what that looks like.
It's basically a bunch of people stealing from black banks.
And then we're also going to give you some game
on how you can support, you know, the NAACP's efforts
(01:51):
to you know, create some real police reform in light
of all the goings on with Tyree Nichols and the
aftermath of that. Stick around for it. But first and foremost,
I think it's time for some Ebny Excellence. How do
you feel about that? Cue? Shall we we shall So.
This week's Abney Excellence is sponsored by Hip Hop Weekly
Media and the content comes from Black Enterprise. We're going
(02:15):
to shout out Jennifer Ford this week. I'm not a
big shoe person, but q is. I remember one time
you introduced me to a guy I believe his name
was Alexander in Georgia. Yes, Alexander John Yes, and he's
a big shoe guy too, And then you took me
to Complex Con And there's a lot of shoe guys
out there anyway, Jennifer Ford is a shoe person. Woman
(02:37):
She's a Houston native and the owner of a sneaker
store called Premium Goods, and she's confirmed a new collaboration
with longtime supporter Nike on a new Air Force one.
According to Vogue, the design was created by Ford, who
was inspired by items in her own closet. The sneakers
design features quilted sides and a beaded iteration of the
signature Nike swish. There's this artistic part of me that
(03:02):
I never get the time to use, her development quote.
Ford said, recalling her desire to craft such a project.
She goes on, I knew I was fully capable, but
now seeing the creation I made, I know I can
do it. It's every sneaker owner's dream. The collection features
two sets of black and beage Air Force ones. It
Ford named after her daughters, Sophia and her niece Bella.
(03:23):
The sneakers are complimented with laces and are held by
a metal rose, which Ford used to present a generational
family name. The collaboration highlights the accents on the shoes
as a love letter to the black woman who women sorry,
who continue to inspire Ford's success with her craft. She's
quoted saying, for me it's important because if I'm the
(03:46):
only one, people have to see me, Ford said, and reportedly,
Ford became the first and only black woman founder of
a sneaker retail store in the country when she opened
Premium Goods. So once again, shout out to Jennifer Ford.
You indeed are ebony excel On. Now, if you are
a longtime listener of this show, Civic Cipher, you know
(04:11):
that we came out the blocks with a story that was,
in hindsight, it's almost a perfect story to tell as
our first story together on this show, in this space.
This is a story that we're going to tell again today.
(04:32):
The story helps us make the point that we will
be making throughout the show that it is not a
black and white thing. Often enough, it's black people versus
white supremacy. Sure, but as we've established to the integree
in recent episodes, white supremacy is not necessarily white people, right.
(04:58):
It's white supremacy or white supremacist institutions are those institutions
that overwhelmingly benefit white people but aren't necessarily upheld by
white people. They can be upheld by anyone. Now, as
you may or may not know, depending on when you've
jumped onto the Civic Cipher train and subscribe to the
(05:21):
Scife Life with Me and Q here. Yeah, man, all
about that on the shirt. You know that this show
exists to foster conversations, dialogue, to bring things to you know,
your attention, and we're doing our best to exist in
(05:42):
spaces where we're most likely to find allies, people who
want this sort of content but may not go and
seek it out. This is the origin story of this show.
We for those that don't know and are unfamiliar, we
used to work at a radio station, one radio station.
(06:03):
It's crazy now that we're on all over the whole country,
but we did work at one radio station and we
had I think two or three shows together over the
year or something like that. Right, So when twenty twenty
rolled around, we got active, as you do, and we
got outside. We started protesting, hold enough signs, taking our kids,
(06:27):
you know, making an event of it, you know, affirming
that our black lives mattered. Dare we It's crazy you
affirm that your life matters? Young man. Well listen, man,
I could do nothing less because I got two sons
to raise. I'm sure you echoed that sentiment. She was
(06:47):
just being sarcastic for those that couldn't see his face
here anyway, So that there was there was a time
when we were trying to get the leadership that we
were following on the streets. These are actual people who
have studied this. They know how to organize, they know
(07:07):
how to protest. These are community leaders, these are aspiring politicians.
These are those types of folks. And what we saw
in our city in Phoenix, we saw black women out there.
So shout out to Keisha, shout out to Zara, shout
out to all the women from BOM Phoenix Metro and
(07:30):
from Pote Air Inaction and from Shoot White Paws and
all the orgs that were out making it happen. But
often enough, we saw black women out there, powerful speakers,
incredibly intelligent, insightful, knowledgeable, and they had bullhorns. They did
not have radio stations, and that's where we had to
(07:50):
do something about it, because indeed Q and I had
access to a radio station at the time, and so
we approached the leadership at the radio station, really the
program director and the owner and the general manager and
said to them, hey, we should probably get some of
these folks up on the radio so that they can
(08:12):
explain what it is that they believe will help us,
you know, get past this moment, this George Floyd moment,
this Breonna Taylor moment, and we should do that because
doing a black square on Instagram as a hip hop
station feels performative and it doesn't feel like as much
(08:35):
as we could do if we really care about these people.
So they said, yes, let's do it, and then they
started dragging their feet and it was in that space
that this story that we're about to tell happened. So
(09:00):
I needed to kind of paint that picture for you
so you recognize the climate of the country in the
moment that this story takes place. Just to conclude that story,
because I just needed to give you background, we came back,
they told us no, we resigned, and then we started
Civic Sifer with some other radio stations and then grew
it up to now you're listening to us and again
(09:22):
on across the country. But in the in the in
between time, when they said, yes, that's a that's a
good idea, we should definitely do it. Whatever lying to us,
Q had to go to where was it Florida, Uh, Florida,
not Fort Lauderdale, though, was it Tampa, Florida to buy
(09:43):
a new car for his his woman, and he asked
for me to join him on the trip and we
could drive back across the country visit some states we
had never been to, so I, well, you in there,
but I hadn't, and I agreed. I thought that'd be
(10:05):
a good time. Again, there's a pandemic, nobody's nothing's happening,
nothing's really moving, and of course there's a lot of
tension in the air politically, and remember Civic Cipher doesn't exist.
We're still at this time only DJ's were only hip
hop radio personalities were not in this space, right, so
(10:26):
we're still the version of ourselves that we thought we
were going to be in perpetuity. So we jump on
the flight, go to Florida, pick up this new car,
really nice car. It was a Porsche, So just to
(10:47):
give you an idea of the type of vehicle we're
driving back. We went from Florida without incident to Georgia,
stayed the night in Georgia, left Georgia without incident, and
went to Alabama. And I remember in Alabama we had
(11:08):
to get gas and that was not fun. Florida, Georgia,
then Alabama yep, yep, that's right, I remember it. And
then leaving Alabama, we you know, hit Mississippi next, and
again largely without incident. As you can imagine, we're looking
(11:29):
around on this drive and there's Confederate flags and there's
still Trump flags up and Alabama was that was an
interesting place because for those who have not spent time
driving through Alabama, a lot of the feelings of the
people with respect to race and race relations. In some
(11:50):
of those you know, country roads and indeed even the
highways and interstates, the feelings of the people are not hidden.
They're out in full display on billboards, and they talk
about it on radio wide right out there. And so
being in a place like that, now, mind you, George
(12:13):
Floyd had already been murdered. This show had not started,
so this is the end between and we're still normal
people at that point. Not well, we're still normal now today,
but we weren't doing this show at that point, so
that part of our psyche had not yet been activated.
Driving through Alabama got us to be tense. We're nervous,
(12:42):
but we're laughing, kind of making fun. You know, you
hear the rumors about Alabama, you realize it's true. You're like,
oh wow, how funny, but you know, you feel safe,
you're in a car, you're driving through. You're like, listen, man,
we just had to get some gas. We're just gonna
keep it pushing. We'll make it to New Orleans and
stayed at night there, and you know, New Orleans felt
a little safer than you know, Mississippi at night, So
(13:05):
that was kind of our plan. So again, blazing through,
Blaze through Alabama, got to Mississippi. Now the sun's going
down and we're mobbing outcast on loud, you know, three
stacks just going in and we're on the outskirts of
(13:27):
Mississippi about to crossover into Louisiana the state line. So
we're still legally within the bounds of Mississippi. And I'm
gonna let Q jump in and start the story.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
All right, the first part of this picture that I
have to paint. I don't know if we always say it,
but I think it's really important. Ram just talked about
our moved on this trip. It was mixed because we
were very, very aware of the temperature at the country
at the time. Right, this is the height of not
just this is not just in the wake of the
(14:07):
murder of George Floyd. But this is the height of
trump Ism, you know. And that side of the road
they're waving twenty foot Trump flags from their houses. They're
wrapping their cars and vinyl wrap of Trump with a
six pack in muscles, Like, it was a really strange
(14:30):
place to look around and realize we were actually living
in And for Ramses, a lot of things were happening.
One he's about to help his best friend drive across country.
There's part of that that's just exciting. Drive across country
one of your friends, especially somebody you're really close with,
(14:51):
that you've already traveled with before, that you already know,
you love that, you already know you're going to have
fun with. And it's actually fun. You're on your own schedule.
You don't have a deadline. We'll get there when we
get there. We stop when we want to stop, we
eat when we want to eat. And we talked a lot, however,
Ramse and our DJs, so there was a lot of
amazing music to listen to. And we were in the
(15:14):
in the soul of the South, bumping that cast. So
I remember that bumping that cast though, And there was
a moment where we're very, very aware that we're in
the South, and everything in the South is reminding us
that it's the South, Like Ramsay said, Confederate flags, extreme
(15:36):
right wing rhetoric on the regular radio, like we didn't
have to dive into like the deep web, like nope,
whatever the regular radio station is in that city, and.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Talking out loud, out loud about all that and respect.
And it was dark, yeah, and it was unusually dark.
We're on the state line.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
No street lights, no highway lights, no signs, and because
of the trees, no moonlight. I remember, it was pitch
black dark outside. So as far as the headlights on
this car could shine, was all you could see. Now
in Arizona and in most cities that I've lived in.
(16:23):
In the event that drivers doze off or cross over
onto the either the median or the burn the side
of the road, the gore lane, there is a thing
they do to the pavement where there's grooves, so that
when your tires run over them, it makes a noise
and alerts you, hey, you should get back on the
(16:45):
road or get back in your lane, or wake up.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Or wake up.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
In Mississippi, those things are not on the side of
the road they're in the middle.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yeah, so let me say it right. So, in Arizona,
where we are accustomed to driving, there is a white
strip of paint that defines the lane. Just outside of
that white strip of paint, maybe six inches to the
outside of that, there is that rumble strip that's indented
(17:19):
into the pavement that makes the noise if your tire
hits it. So if your tire runs over the white
line doesn't make a noise. It's not until you get
outside of that white line that the noise begins. In Mississippi,
the white line itself has the rumble strip in it. Yes,
all right, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
So while we're listening to I think skew it on
a barbie, it's probably where we were about that time,
changing lanes or maybe not just driving. Our tires come
into contact with that rumble strip for approximately one full second,
(17:57):
so just long enough for you to hear the noise,
and then there was really no correction to make. I
didn't have to swerve, I didn't have to turn, I
didn't have to get over. Just the car will kind
of just guide itself back into the center of the
lane because I'm driving unineborated and not sleepy, it was.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
We were fine real quick. Q has never been inebriated
in his life. You never drank alcohol and never done
a drug. You know who else has never done that?
Rams this job. I've never drank alcohol in my life
and I've never done a drug. Right, So we didn't
ever talk to worry about either of those things. And
the other benefit to driving across country with your best
friend is that you don't even have to pretend that
(18:35):
you're not sleepy. You can either pull over and go
to sleep, or hey, dog, are you trying to get
some of this? Ye?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Jump right in and then just you know, so we're
en route to New Orleans, where we plan to stop
and sleep, and we think nothing of the.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
That was it too?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
We think nothing of that because that should not mean anything. Yeah,
except I guess in Mississippi it means a lot, whole lot.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Because who let the dogs hret.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
That'll make sense in a minute, because the very very
unpleasant sight and feeling of police lights and syrons are
now behind us. Now, I always think that's for someone else.
(19:32):
Every time it ever happens. I'm trying to get out
their way, because there's no way that they're here for me,
no speeding. We're doing all right, We're good. So let
me get over out these people ways so they could oh,
they're getting over with me. This is for us. Shoot
that feeling. We're in Mississippi in the dark, in the
(19:52):
pitch black at somewhere between two and three am eastern
or true whatever timezon we were in.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
In Mississippi summer twenty twenty, and I think Mississippi were
still eastern.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
You're talking about the worst possible time to be getting
pulled over in deep South in this country in the
middle of the night.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
That was probably it. Yeah, real quick, we're laughing about
this now. When this happened, this was terrifying. And it's
important that you were laughing. As I'm starting to describe
the specifics. It's getting real unfunny again, exactly, And that's
something that you need to understand. Okay, So you know
many of you listen to our show every week. You
(20:38):
understand that we're reasonable men. We now you know that
we have never done a drug, none of that stuff.
That's not even who we are. We have nothing to fear,
right except yeah, we do. We have everything to fear.
Talk to them unfortunately, go ahead, right, so we pull over.
(21:01):
There's two vehicles.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I don't know if it was both SUVs, maybe a
a cruiser in an suv, but two vehicles. One is
a highway patrol officer, the other is a sheriff. They
were both necessary for pulling us over on this night,
and the big spotlights on both sides of the car
are on. There are officers approaching the driver's side. At
(21:24):
this point, he was driving. I'm in the passenger seat,
I wrote, my window down, our seatbelts are fastened, my
hands are on the steering wheel. I am assuming the
least threatening posture that I can, and, as is the
(21:44):
case in most of these interactions, sincerely wondering why we've
been pulled over. The officer points out that he heard
the noise that tires make when they come into contact
with those grooves in the row. Asked if we were okay,
if we've been drinking, if we were tired, whatever the case.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
We're fine. No, we haven't been drinking. Clearly, we haven't
been drinking. You know, I'm not even sleepy.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
At that point, after you answer no, the only posture
you can assume is is that it you're not saying
we were speeding because we weren't you now know that
we're okay, we're not tired, we haven't been drinking. Yeah,
except the next thing he says is can you step
out of the car?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
That changes thing.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
That's the next thing he said. He didn't ask any
more questions, He didn't do any more deductive reasoning, no
more research. Can you step out of the car? Now?
I'm not obligated to step out of the car except
when you look like because you are, you better. The
decision that you have to make is not even I
(22:56):
better do this. But you have two positions that you
can assume. One is I'm going to make myself enemy
of this officer by flexing my knowledge of the law,
expressing that he doesn't have a warrant or just cause,
and there's no reason that I need to get out
of this vehicle. Assuming an adversarial position to a state
(23:17):
trooper in the dark in Mississippi, summer twenty twenty, the
last thing I want to do is become this person's enemy.
On principle, I can hold ground and stay in the car.
But I know I've done nothing wrong. I don't have
any weapons, drugs, nothing on me, So I'm just trying
to I'm trying to not agitate this officer. Now, picture
(23:45):
these bright spotlights and the voice of a state trooper.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
From in the Missississippi with that Mississippi accent. It sounds
exactly like what you're imagining. It sounds like.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
But once I step out of the car, I turn
around and see the officer is black. This means something
completely different today to me than it did that day. However,
to Ramses, it felt exactly how it feels today to
(24:19):
most of you who have now learned about the officers
involved with brother Tyree Nichols.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Now bear in mind that Ques just stepped out of
the car. I'm freaking out because why would they ask
him to get out of the car. I've seen this movie,
I literally with these eyes, have seen it in person
in Compton, California when I was little, and I don't
know what the officer looks like. So I'm still in
the car right now. We got to take a pause
(24:49):
for the cause we're going to come back with a
little bit more of this story because we have a
point to make. So stay by your radios and we'll
be right back at you in just a second.
Welcome to another episode of Civic Scipher. I'm your host
of Ramsey's job. He is. It's very important that people
know that.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I don't know if we say that enough that you
are Ray's Johdeed I am, and we out in the
public people.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Say it's very exciting. I am q Ward. Yes, this
is exciting. That's important and uh, it's a crazy time
in the country right now, and we've got to talk
to you. So that's what we're here to do. Stick
around because today we are going to be sharing some
stories about police and making the point that it's not
(00:39):
black or white, but rather making the point that it
is blue. And this is something that a lot of
people are not connecting, especially people that are far removed
from the goings on on the streets, the goings on
with respect to activism, the goings on with respect to
(01:02):
invisible social societal forces that keep us divided and keep
us from understanding the true reality of what it's like
to be in the other's shoes. So we're going to
spend a good part of the show talking about that
and again sharing some personal stories. We're also going to
be talking about for our way Black History fact, we're
(01:26):
going to be discussing the largest bank robbery in the
history of the United States of America. UH, just to
give you a brief view of what that looks like.
It's basically a bunch of people stealing from black banks.
And then we're also going to give you some game
on how you can support, you know, the NAACP's efforts
(01:51):
to you know, create some real police reform in light
of all the goings on with Tyree Nichols and the
aftermath of that. Stick around for it. But first and foremost,
I think it's time for some Ebny Excellence. How do
you feel about that? Cue? Shall we we shall So.
This week's Abney Excellence is sponsored by Hip Hop Weekly
Media and the content comes from Black Enterprise. We're going
(02:15):
to shout out Jennifer Ford this week. I'm not a
big shoe person, but q is. I remember one time
you introduced me to a guy I believe his name
was Alexander in Georgia. Yes, Alexander John Yes, and he's
a big shoe guy too, And then you took me
to Complex Con And there's a lot of shoe guys
out there anyway, Jennifer Ford is a shoe person. Woman
(02:37):
She's a Houston native and the owner of a sneaker
store called Premium Goods, and she's confirmed a new collaboration
with longtime supporter Nike on a new Air Force one.
According to Vogue, the design was created by Ford, who
was inspired by items in her own closet. The sneakers
design features quilted sides and a beaded iteration of the
signature Nike swish. There's this artistic part of me that
(03:02):
I never get the time to use, her development quote.
Ford said, recalling her desire to craft such a project.
She goes on, I knew I was fully capable, but
now seeing the creation I made, I know I can
do it. It's every sneaker owner's dream. The collection features
two sets of black and beage Air Force ones. It
Ford named after her daughters, Sophia and her niece Bella.
(03:23):
The sneakers are complimented with laces and are held by
a metal rose, which Ford used to present a generational
family name. The collaboration highlights the accents on the shoes
as a love letter to the black woman who women sorry,
who continue to inspire Ford's success with her craft. She's
quoted saying, for me it's important because if I'm the
(03:46):
only one, people have to see me, Ford said, and reportedly,
Ford became the first and only black woman founder of
a sneaker retail store in the country when she opened
Premium Goods. So once again, shout out to Jennifer Ford.
You indeed are ebony excel On. Now, if you are
a longtime listener of this show, Civic Cipher, you know
(04:11):
that we came out the blocks with a story that was,
in hindsight, it's almost a perfect story to tell as
our first story together on this show, in this space.
This is a story that we're going to tell again today.
(04:32):
The story helps us make the point that we will
be making throughout the show that it is not a
black and white thing. Often enough, it's black people versus
white supremacy. Sure, but as we've established to the integree
in recent episodes, white supremacy is not necessarily white people, right.
(04:58):
It's white supremacy or white supremacist institutions are those institutions
that overwhelmingly benefit white people but aren't necessarily upheld by
white people. They can be upheld by anyone. Now, as
you may or may not know, depending on when you've
jumped onto the Civic Cipher train and subscribe to the
(05:21):
Scife Life with Me and Q here. Yeah, man, all
about that on the shirt. You know that this show
exists to foster conversations, dialogue, to bring things to you know,
your attention, and we're doing our best to exist in
(05:42):
spaces where we're most likely to find allies, people who
want this sort of content but may not go and
seek it out. This is the origin story of this show.
We for those that don't know and are unfamiliar, we
used to work at a radio station, one radio station.
(06:03):
It's crazy now that we're on all over the whole country,
but we did work at one radio station and we
had I think two or three shows together over the
year or something like that. Right, So when twenty twenty
rolled around, we got active, as you do, and we
got outside. We started protesting, hold enough signs, taking our kids,
(06:27):
you know, making an event of it, you know, affirming
that our black lives mattered. Dare we It's crazy you
affirm that your life matters? Young man. Well listen, man,
I could do nothing less because I got two sons
to raise. I'm sure you echoed that sentiment. She was
(06:47):
just being sarcastic for those that couldn't see his face
here anyway, So that there was there was a time
when we were trying to get the leadership that we
were following on the streets. These are actual people who
have studied this. They know how to organize, they know
(07:07):
how to protest. These are community leaders, these are aspiring politicians.
These are those types of folks. And what we saw
in our city in Phoenix, we saw black women out there.
So shout out to Keisha, shout out to Zara, shout
out to all the women from BOM Phoenix Metro and
(07:30):
from Pote Air Inaction and from Shoot White Paws and
all the orgs that were out making it happen. But
often enough, we saw black women out there, powerful speakers,
incredibly intelligent, insightful, knowledgeable, and they had bullhorns. They did
not have radio stations, and that's where we had to
(07:50):
do something about it, because indeed Q and I had
access to a radio station at the time, and so
we approached the leadership at the radio station, really the
program director and the owner and the general manager and
said to them, hey, we should probably get some of
these folks up on the radio so that they can
(08:12):
explain what it is that they believe will help us,
you know, get past this moment, this George Floyd moment,
this Breonna Taylor moment, and we should do that because
doing a black square on Instagram as a hip hop
station feels performative and it doesn't feel like as much
(08:35):
as we could do if we really care about these people.
So they said, yes, let's do it, and then they
started dragging their feet and it was in that space
that this story that we're about to tell happened. So
(09:00):
I needed to kind of paint that picture for you
so you recognize the climate of the country in the
moment that this story takes place. Just to conclude that story,
because I just needed to give you background, we came back,
they told us no, we resigned, and then we started
Civic Sifer with some other radio stations and then grew
it up to now you're listening to us and again
(09:22):
on across the country. But in the in the in
between time, when they said, yes, that's a that's a
good idea, we should definitely do it. Whatever lying to us,
Q had to go to where was it Florida, Uh, Florida,
not Fort Lauderdale, though, was it Tampa, Florida to buy
(09:43):
a new car for his his woman, and he asked
for me to join him on the trip and we
could drive back across the country visit some states we
had never been to, so I, well, you in there,
but I hadn't, and I agreed. I thought that'd be
(10:05):
a good time. Again, there's a pandemic, nobody's nothing's happening,
nothing's really moving, and of course there's a lot of
tension in the air politically, and remember Civic Cipher doesn't exist.
We're still at this time only DJ's were only hip
hop radio personalities were not in this space, right, so
(10:26):
we're still the version of ourselves that we thought we
were going to be in perpetuity. So we jump on
the flight, go to Florida, pick up this new car,
really nice car. It was a Porsche, So just to
(10:47):
give you an idea of the type of vehicle we're
driving back. We went from Florida without incident to Georgia,
stayed the night in Georgia, left Georgia without incident, and
went to Alabama. And I remember in Alabama we had
(11:08):
to get gas and that was not fun. Florida, Georgia,
then Alabama yep, yep, that's right, I remember it. And
then leaving Alabama, we you know, hit Mississippi next, and
again largely without incident. As you can imagine, we're looking
(11:29):
around on this drive and there's Confederate flags and there's
still Trump flags up and Alabama was that was an
interesting place because for those who have not spent time
driving through Alabama, a lot of the feelings of the
people with respect to race and race relations. In some
(11:50):
of those you know, country roads and indeed even the
highways and interstates, the feelings of the people are not hidden.
They're out in full display on billboards, and they talk
about it on radio wide right out there. And so
being in a place like that, now, mind you, George
(12:13):
Floyd had already been murdered. This show had not started,
so this is the end between and we're still normal
people at that point. Not well, we're still normal now today,
but we weren't doing this show at that point, so
that part of our psyche had not yet been activated.
Driving through Alabama got us to be tense. We're nervous,
(12:42):
but we're laughing, kind of making fun. You know, you
hear the rumors about Alabama, you realize it's true. You're like,
oh wow, how funny, but you know, you feel safe,
you're in a car, you're driving through. You're like, listen, man,
we just had to get some gas. We're just gonna
keep it pushing. We'll make it to New Orleans and
stayed at night there, and you know, New Orleans felt
a little safer than you know, Mississippi at night, So
(13:05):
that was kind of our plan. So again, blazing through,
Blaze through Alabama, got to Mississippi. Now the sun's going
down and we're mobbing outcast on loud, you know, three
stacks just going in and we're on the outskirts of
(13:27):
Mississippi about to crossover into Louisiana the state line. So
we're still legally within the bounds of Mississippi. And I'm
gonna let Q jump in and start the story.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
All right, the first part of this picture that I
have to paint. I don't know if we always say it,
but I think it's really important. Ram just talked about
our moved on this trip. It was mixed because we
were very, very aware of the temperature at the country
at the time. Right, this is the height of not
just this is not just in the wake of the
(14:07):
murder of George Floyd. But this is the height of
trump Ism, you know. And that side of the road
they're waving twenty foot Trump flags from their houses. They're
wrapping their cars and vinyl wrap of Trump with a
six pack in muscles, Like, it was a really strange
(14:30):
place to look around and realize we were actually living
in And for Ramses, a lot of things were happening.
One he's about to help his best friend drive across country.
There's part of that that's just exciting. Drive across country
one of your friends, especially somebody you're really close with,
(14:51):
that you've already traveled with before, that you already know,
you love that, you already know you're going to have
fun with. And it's actually fun. You're on your own schedule.
You don't have a deadline. We'll get there when we
get there. We stop when we want to stop, we
eat when we want to eat. And we talked a lot, however,
Ramse and our DJs, so there was a lot of
amazing music to listen to. And we were in the
(15:14):
in the soul of the South, bumping that cast. So
I remember that bumping that cast though, And there was
a moment where we're very, very aware that we're in
the South, and everything in the South is reminding us
that it's the South, Like Ramsay said, Confederate flags, extreme
(15:36):
right wing rhetoric on the regular radio, like we didn't
have to dive into like the deep web, like nope,
whatever the regular radio station is in that city, and.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Talking out loud, out loud about all that and respect.
And it was dark, yeah, and it was unusually dark.
We're on the state line.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
No street lights, no highway lights, no signs, and because
of the trees, no moonlight. I remember, it was pitch
black dark outside. So as far as the headlights on
this car could shine, was all you could see. Now
in Arizona and in most cities that I've lived in.
(16:23):
In the event that drivers doze off or cross over
onto the either the median or the burn the side
of the road, the gore lane, there is a thing
they do to the pavement where there's grooves, so that
when your tires run over them, it makes a noise
and alerts you, hey, you should get back on the
(16:45):
road or get back in your lane, or wake up.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Or wake up.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
In Mississippi, those things are not on the side of
the road they're in the middle.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yeah, so let me say it right. So, in Arizona,
where we are accustomed to driving, there is a white
strip of paint that defines the lane. Just outside of
that white strip of paint, maybe six inches to the
outside of that, there is that rumble strip that's indented
(17:19):
into the pavement that makes the noise if your tire
hits it. So if your tire runs over the white
line doesn't make a noise. It's not until you get
outside of that white line that the noise begins. In Mississippi,
the white line itself has the rumble strip in it. Yes,
all right, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
So while we're listening to I think skew it on
a barbie, it's probably where we were about that time,
changing lanes or maybe not just driving. Our tires come
into contact with that rumble strip for approximately one full second,
(17:57):
so just long enough for you to hear the noise,
and then there was really no correction to make. I
didn't have to swerve, I didn't have to turn, I
didn't have to get over. Just the car will kind
of just guide itself back into the center of the
lane because I'm driving unineborated and not sleepy, it was.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
We were fine real quick. Q has never been inebriated
in his life. You never drank alcohol and never done
a drug. You know who else has never done that?
Rams this job. I've never drank alcohol in my life
and I've never done a drug. Right, So we didn't
ever talk to worry about either of those things. And
the other benefit to driving across country with your best
friend is that you don't even have to pretend that
(18:35):
you're not sleepy. You can either pull over and go
to sleep, or hey, dog, are you trying to get
some of this? Ye?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Jump right in and then just you know, so we're
en route to New Orleans, where we plan to stop
and sleep, and we think nothing of the.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
That was it too?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
We think nothing of that because that should not mean anything. Yeah,
except I guess in Mississippi it means a lot, whole lot.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Because who let the dogs hret.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
That'll make sense in a minute, because the very very
unpleasant sight and feeling of police lights and syrons are
now behind us. Now, I always think that's for someone else.
(19:32):
Every time it ever happens. I'm trying to get out
their way, because there's no way that they're here for me,
no speeding. We're doing all right, We're good. So let
me get over out these people ways so they could oh,
they're getting over with me. This is for us. Shoot
that feeling. We're in Mississippi in the dark, in the
(19:52):
pitch black at somewhere between two and three am eastern
or true whatever timezon we were in.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
In Mississippi summer twenty twenty, and I think Mississippi were
still eastern.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
You're talking about the worst possible time to be getting
pulled over in deep South in this country in the
middle of the night.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
That was probably it. Yeah, real quick, we're laughing about
this now. When this happened, this was terrifying. And it's
important that you were laughing. As I'm starting to describe
the specifics. It's getting real unfunny again, exactly, And that's
something that you need to understand. Okay, So you know
many of you listen to our show every week. You
(20:38):
understand that we're reasonable men. We now you know that
we have never done a drug, none of that stuff.
That's not even who we are. We have nothing to fear,
right except yeah, we do. We have everything to fear.
Talk to them unfortunately, go ahead, right, so we pull over.
(21:01):
There's two vehicles.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I don't know if it was both SUVs, maybe a
a cruiser in an suv, but two vehicles. One is
a highway patrol officer, the other is a sheriff. They
were both necessary for pulling us over on this night,
and the big spotlights on both sides of the car
are on. There are officers approaching the driver's side. At
(21:24):
this point, he was driving. I'm in the passenger seat,
I wrote, my window down, our seatbelts are fastened, my
hands are on the steering wheel. I am assuming the
least threatening posture that I can, and, as is the
(21:44):
case in most of these interactions, sincerely wondering why we've
been pulled over. The officer points out that he heard
the noise that tires make when they come into contact
with those grooves in the row. Asked if we were okay,
if we've been drinking, if we were tired, whatever the case.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
We're fine. No, we haven't been drinking. Clearly, we haven't
been drinking. You know, I'm not even sleepy.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
At that point, after you answer no, the only posture
you can assume is is that it you're not saying
we were speeding because we weren't you now know that
we're okay, we're not tired, we haven't been drinking. Yeah,
except the next thing he says is can you step
out of the car?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
That changes thing.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
That's the next thing he said. He didn't ask any
more questions, He didn't do any more deductive reasoning, no
more research. Can you step out of the car? Now?
I'm not obligated to step out of the car except
when you look like because you are, you better. The
decision that you have to make is not even I
(22:56):
better do this. But you have two positions that you
can assume. One is I'm going to make myself enemy
of this officer by flexing my knowledge of the law,
expressing that he doesn't have a warrant or just cause,
and there's no reason that I need to get out
of this vehicle. Assuming an adversarial position to a state
(23:17):
trooper in the dark in Mississippi, summer twenty twenty, the
last thing I want to do is become this person's enemy.
On principle, I can hold ground and stay in the car.
But I know I've done nothing wrong. I don't have
any weapons, drugs, nothing on me, So I'm just trying
to I'm trying to not agitate this officer. Now, picture
(23:45):
these bright spotlights and the voice of a state trooper.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
From in the Missississippi with that Mississippi accent. It sounds
exactly like what you're imagining. It sounds like.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
But once I step out of the car, I turn
around and see the officer is black. This means something
completely different today to me than it did that day. However,
to Ramses, it felt exactly how it feels today to
(24:19):
most of you who have now learned about the officers
involved with brother Tyree Nichols.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Now bear in mind that Ques just stepped out of
the car. I'm freaking out because why would they ask
him to get out of the car. I've seen this movie,
I literally with these eyes, have seen it in person
in Compton, California when I was little, and I don't
know what the officer looks like. So I'm still in
the car right now. We got to take a pause
(24:49):
for the cause we're going to come back with a
little bit more of this story because we have a
point to make. So stay by your radios and we'll
be right back at you in just a second.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.