June 15, 2024 • 22 mins
In the second part of the show, we give a bit of context for Juneteenth and then discuss how to go about celebrating it respectfully. We provide some encouragement for those wanting to partake in the national holiday along with us!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Keep on riding with us, says, we continue to broadcast
the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop
Weekly studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am still
your host Rams's job.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
He is still rams this job. I remain qward. You
are tuned in, hopefully still tuned in or just now
tuning in Pacific Cipher.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Either way, we appreciate you and we still got a
lot more in store for you. We are going to
be talking about how to celebrate June teenth. This is
a very new holiday for the country. Not really new
for black folks, but it's new for the country and
for those who are allies of black people. You know,
we feel like this is something that can be approachable.
(00:42):
This is something that you can participate in, and you
just kind of have to bear in mind the population
you're dealing with in the particular sensitivities of that population.
But I think you know, any good faith effort will
be well received, and if not, we're all here to learn.
So stick around for that much more. But before we
get there, it's time to discuss ba Ba becoming a
(01:02):
better Allied Baba and Today's Baba A sponsored by Friends
of the movement. You can sign up for the free
voter wallet from fotmglobal dot com to support black businesses
and allied businesses as well as make an impact with
your spending. Again, that's Fotmglobal dot com. I'm going to
take this one this week if I can. I want
you to check out the twenty twenty four African American
Conference on Disabilities. The AACD is the premier comprehensive disability
(01:26):
conference in the United States that addresses the intersection between
race and disability. The conference examines the avenues for self
advocacy to ensure the effective provision of services, resources, and
enforcement of civil rights in the African American and disability communities.
This is from their website. We need your financial support
and sponsorship for our conference. Your sponsorship will make a
(01:47):
difference to help defray the costs to attend the conference
for individuals or families and financial need so they can
attain information and gain access to resources for themselves or
their family members with disabilities. There are a limited number
of scholarships for families to attend the conference. For more information,
please contact Ronaldo Fowler. That's our Fouler at Disability Rights
(02:08):
AZ dot org. Or you can go to the website
Disability Rights AZ dot org again Ronaldo Fowler Our Fowler
at Disability Rights az dot org or Disability Rights az
dot org. Either way you can get more information. We're
actually going to have an individual up on the show,
(02:28):
hopefully in the next couple of weeks, to discuss the
intersection of black life in America and certain cognitive disabilities.
My language, I'm still learning how to describe these things,
but I want you to know that I do have
a little cousin who is autistic, and he is right
(02:53):
at the intersection of being black and autistic. And there's
a lot to learn there, So stay tuned for more.
Right now, let's talk about Juneteenth. So you know, I
do you know I'm gonna say this man, you know, Biden, Biden,
(03:23):
There's no such thing as a perfect man. Not that
I would ever excuse Biden's policy.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Far from it.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I would never excuse his policy on how he's dealing
with Israel. That is, that is an excusable when they
call him genocide Joe like, I understand that, and I
would absolutely go along with that right But factually speaking,
(03:55):
Joe Biden is the reason that Juneteenth is a national holiday.
And that's something that is very hard for me and
for a lot of black people because this is a
conversation we've had on this show and a lot of
the speaks, this speaks the speaking engagements that we attend
Q and I and you know, and we've been in
(04:19):
private conversations behind closed doors where we discuss what it
was we wanted from our president in exchange for our
vote in twenty twenty versus what we got we did
get Juneteenth, which I maintain that's not nothing. That's not zero,
because it is possible to get in there and do zero.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Sure that was not even on our list of things.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
That right we weren't even checking for, however, but credit
where it's due. Juneteenth is a national holiday now, not
just something that we celebrate ourselves. And as a result
of that, it can be celebrated nationally. Like there are people,
well they'd get the day off from work, you know,
(05:02):
on Memorial Day, you do Memorial Day activities. On Saint
Patrick's Day, you do Saint Patrick's Day activities. It is
possible now that on Juneteenth you can do Juneteenth activities.
And we can circle back to Biden and all that.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
But oh, we will.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I know that because I saw your face. Man. But
but uh, right now, and talking about Juneteenth, you know,
I want to remind you that Q and I do
this show every week because we believe that allyship is special.
(05:42):
We know that once upon a time our people were slaves.
That's that's a reality that I have to live with
every day. You know, if your people came here on
the Mayflower, if your people came here on some boat
or some great excursion westward to make a life and
(06:02):
a name for themselves in the New World, or whatever
your story is, I'm sure it has more dignity than
the story where I say, yeah, my family, we came
and chained, We were slaves and lived short, hard lives
and never knew true happiness. And that DNA has made
(06:31):
me into the living, breathing being that I am now.
Make no mistake, I'm proud to be who I am.
I've found a way to be happy with it. Indeed,
we all have. I think that's part of our superpower
as a hero. But I'm not going to kid myself
and say, yeah, that's the move, that's the story. Let's
run that again, right. That's why I work hard, That's
(06:54):
why all of us work hard so that our children
and their children don't have to have that be their story,
don't have to endure that themselves. So when I look
at what could have been true of my life coming
(07:18):
from slaves, I'm aware that there were allies even back
then that were not Black, that were pushing to end slavery.
Allyship has been part and parcel to every major advancement
(07:39):
in you know, black people's status in this country, non
Jewish people. You know. Q and I we do episodes
of the Black Information Network. We were having a conversation
not too long ago about a Jewish gentleman who is
working to erode affirmative action and opportunities.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
To bring about he's not working to he's a successfully Yeah,
you're successfully done away with it.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, And he's continuing to attack the Fearless Fund and.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Any other initiative that looks to advance the causes and
the well being of the disadvantage.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And it's so funny because he's a Jewish man, and
that feels so strange. I know that you can't paint
every group with the same brush, but I always felt
like there might have been a special kinship there. So
to know that that was particularly that made me particularly sad.
But in any event, we're talking about allyship, and the
fact of the matter is that we would not have
(08:43):
had affirmative action in the first place had it not
been for allies. Right, So I'm saying all this to
establish that allies are very important, and indeed, the reason
we created this show is because we felt like there
was a need for us to be able to communicate
with allies, potential allies, allies who had you know, maybe
they had carried long and become weary and they needed
(09:08):
information and to know that they were appreciated, and a
hundred other reasons. We also know that that can be
a very scary place because if you don't know the
type of support that I need, and historically the people
that look like you have shown up and tried to
(09:31):
either steal the spotlight or just put on a show
and not really follow through, or had some like decidedly
underhanded intentions like hey, look, you guys are going to
be getting a lot of money. Let me help you
(09:52):
spend the money, and then just disappear with the money.
Because we can talk about the history of black banking, exploitation, exploitation,
that's the word I'm looking for. You know, over time,
it causes people to be wary, to be concerned. Right,
and so whereas there are people who would be allies
(10:14):
coming to the table saying hey, I want to help,
I want to you know whatever, if they don't know
how to do that, they can end up getting chastised.
And that can be a very deflating moment when a
person says, hey, look, I showed up to help you guys,
Now you're yelling at me, So now I won't do
anything right? And to that we push back, Q and I,
(10:35):
we push back and we say no, stay the course.
This is a learning process and everyone is different, and
everyone's timetables are different, everybody's learning curve is different. Don't
be afraid to make a mistake. We don't want you
to make mistakes, but don't be afraid that comes with
(10:56):
it is we're running this experiment with you, right. We
don't know where the boundaries are either. We know them
when we feel them, and we will tell you. But
don't be afraid to explore how far this can go.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
And in that spirit, to our brothers and sisters who
are celebrating our cultural celebration, our you know it's it's
a really interesting thing to celebrate things black in this
country because the only place on earth where black exists
(11:34):
as a I don't like to use the word race,
but race or ethnic group is the United States of America.
And the social construct of black and white being created
just to separate, to make plainly delineate these other people
who are allowed to be human beings, and these are
(11:55):
those that are less than. It is a very very
interesting place to try to be proud of one's blackness.
And when you are proud of it, put people push
back and say ignorant things like why is there no
White History Month? Why is there no celebration of whiteness? Well,
the construct was built in a way that everyone white
(12:22):
is first and foremost Jewish or Irish or German, or
English or Spanish or Scottish, and I can go on
and on, whereas seven to eight generations of black people
are black because we don't know before that that was
(12:44):
stolen from us. So it is infuriating too at every
step of every bit of progress that we've made for
there to be someone like the litigator that we spoke
about earlier, Bloom that shows up and says no, no, no,
not even today. We allow you your self dignity, your
(13:13):
self esteem, your self reliance, your self, your self respect.
It is an infuriating thing to be put in that
position and to be made to feel like you are
(13:33):
now somehow the person that is wrong for trying to
be proud. Let us realize that now that this is
a national holiday, we've invited a lot of people to
the party, and some of them will show up and
be clumsy because they don't know any better. They don't
(13:58):
mean any harm. They do want to act the participate
in not just our celebration, but in our progress. The
idea that allyship doesn't exist is a false pretense, and
that is us acting in bad.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Faith sometimes right, So.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
We don't have to, you know, as you would do
a child, pop the hand of those that misstep. Instead,
grab their hand and help them get on the right track.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And I love this. Yeah, this is yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I mean, we have to be as inclusive as we
would hope others would be for us.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You know, it's funny because Q and I we had
this conversation when we were putting together the show. We're
kind of preparing to discuss this, and I love that
analogy in that approach because it actually does speak to
kind of like best practices. Right. So on the one side,
for those listening that would be allies that would say, hey,
(14:57):
you know what, we're going to do something to honor
June Teeth, the spirit of June Teeth like you would
for Memorial Day or whatever else, you know, the fallen
soldiers or you know, anything like that. Right, we are
going to show up and we are going to take
a moment to really understand what it is that we're selling.
We're gonna be intentional about this day. For those people,
(15:21):
we need you to be unafraid to engage. I'm unafraid
to make mistakes. With that said, don't look for mistakes
to make, you know, find something you're comfortable with, but
do something right. And we have we have some things
that you can start off with.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
And for those of us who, let's call us, the
people who are closest to the actual Juneteenth Holiday, namely
black people, I say to us, I don't really need
to say it. I can just echo what you just said,
which is, let's be mindful that people are new to
(16:03):
this party and they might be a little clumsy, but
this is where we are. This is what we're doing.
And the truth is this is what we want. We
do not want to be at the margins. We have
been relegated to the margins the whole time, and now
we have a hot This is not doctor Martin Luther
(16:24):
King Day where he's talking about little black boys and
little white girls. No, this is something that puts our
history into the minds of the country every single year.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I wouldn't be shocked if the other side tries to
find a way to renounce or denounce or remove this
holiday from the calendar.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Listen with strange. Stranger things have happened, But for now,
this is what we got. So let's talk about how
to celebrate JUNETEA first thing.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Cookouts that's the one, yeah, traditionally and the two traditionally Yeah,
that's that's kind of what you do.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So what happens is family and friends gathering, share food
and drinks, and these can include you know, red food
and drinks. You know, I want some kool aid. You know,
I want some cool I want some cool are and
some people see them as symbols of resilience enjoy, while
other people see them as symbols of suffering and sacrifice.
Some traditional cookout foods include barbecue, fried chicken, potato, salad, watermelon,
(17:24):
you know, soul food, you know, all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Right, Watermelon being on that list is crazy, Like reading
fried chicken and watermelon on that list is crazy, except
when you really know, first of all, how good fried
chicken and watermelon are. Oh yeah, but you realize that
even the idea of those being decidedly black and being
positioned in a way that feels racist was another societal construct.
(17:49):
Most of the country, all of the country, I'd like
to argue, enjoys fried chicken.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Human beings, mel yeah, human beings. Yeah. So listen real quick,
we've had this episode, we've done this for we might
need to bring it back, but just so you know,
the reason why watermelon specifically is associated with black people.
Once upon a time, black people were not allowed to
have vanilla ice cream, so watermelon became associated with kind
(18:17):
of like a treat for black people. And then, you know,
post slavery, Jim Crow South watermelon farmers that became a
professional a lot of black people started to do. So
those racist caricatures of black people eating watermelons comes from
that time, and it's a testament to black independence and
black resilience. But of course, as we mentioned, it was
(18:37):
taken away from black people and rebranded as a bad thing,
and then now black people, even myself, i'd be afraid
to eat. If someone put a piece of fried chicken
and watermelon on the same plate and gave it to
me and there are white people around, it probably wouldn't
eat it.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I showed up for one of my first DJ gigs ever,
and a part of my rider was that this place
would feed me. And the first meal that I showed
up at this Irish establishment was fried chicken and watermelon,
and I'll never forget it because the area I didn't
have like a dressing room or a backstage area. The
(19:12):
area was the platform that I DJ'ed on. They put
a table in a chair so people could watch me eat,
and I remember looking around like are they serious? But
see there's the mistakes that people could make. And then
a chef came out and said hello to me, and
he was Mexican. He absolutely meant nothing by it, and
the food was incredible. Let me start there, but I
(19:35):
had that moment of pause. I'm on stage in a
room where I am the only black person and there
is a plate of fried chicken and a plate of
French fries and watermelon. And I was prepared to be
offended because, of course, but I met the chef. I
could tell from her very first words that he did
not mean it in any sort of way. But like
(19:55):
you said, this was stolen from us, rebranded and put
me in that awful position to have to feel that way.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
You know, what's funny about this is that there are
so many people in this country. Most of them are
why that eat food and don't think about how it looks.
It's not even a thing. They don't have to doesn't
even But you know, I remember I told the story
about when I walked into my studio at the old
radio station and there was a banana. Someone had put
(20:22):
a banana on the mixer and I was about to
tear it all down, like oh, somebody got something to say,
let's go, you know, but you know, anyway, you understand,
don't be afraid to make mistakes, be prepared to learn
from them. Engage. We're all here together, especially those of
us who are allies, and well we can grow some
(20:44):
other things that you can do. I'll just get through
this really quickly before we run out of time. Festivals.
These can include music, food, dancing, parades, and protests. We're
going to be doing a live during.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yes on Juneteenth, Kendrick Lamar is doing a live concert
at the Forum in Englewood. We will be live on
YouTube watching this concert, reacting to it, and having some
conversation and back and forth with our listeners and supporters.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
All right, Some more things you can do to celebrate
unitem include prayer and religious services of course, educational events,
cultural activities, which can include visiting museums, cultural sites, or
historic neighborhoods to see murals and historical markers. Many museums
also offer lectures, performances, and other live programming. And supporting
black communities. This can include supporting black owned businesses, black
(21:34):
organization and individuals in your community. You can also reflect
on how you uphold white supremacy and how you plan
to dismantle it.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
You can also come and view our live on YouTube,
YouTube dot com slash civic SciTE.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Okay, that's it, and oh there's a ton of books
out there you can read. And we're working on a
book too that you'll be able to read soon enough.
But lots of things that you can do here to
help celebrate team. Don't be afraid to make a misas,
but that'll do it. For that, We'll leave it right there.
I'd like to thank you as always for tuning into
Civic Cipher. I have been your host Rams this job.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
I am qward. I am forever grateful to our listeners.
Thank you guys for helping us grow and supporting us.
Visit civiccipher dot com, download episodes, share them, like, comment, subscribe,
tell your friends about us, and continue to support us.
We will try to continue to show up for you,
guys and be a voice in rooms that we are
(22:28):
in that you are not. Civic Cipher on everything across
every platform you can think of civiy Cipher Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
You can follow me at Rams' job at I am
q ward and don't forget if you have any questions,
any topics, if you want to make a donation, you
want to download this or any previous episodes. Let's say
you missed half of the show or you tuned in
halfway through, you can also hit civiccipher dot com to
download that. And let's keep the conversation going, y'all until
next week.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Peace,
Keep on riding with us, says, we continue to broadcast
the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop
Weekly studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am still
your host Rams's job.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
He is still rams this job. I remain qward. You
are tuned in, hopefully still tuned in or just now
tuning in Pacific Cipher.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Either way, we appreciate you and we still got a
lot more in store for you. We are going to
be talking about how to celebrate June teenth. This is
a very new holiday for the country. Not really new
for black folks, but it's new for the country and
for those who are allies of black people. You know,
we feel like this is something that can be approachable.
(00:42):
This is something that you can participate in, and you
just kind of have to bear in mind the population
you're dealing with in the particular sensitivities of that population.
But I think you know, any good faith effort will
be well received, and if not, we're all here to learn.
So stick around for that much more. But before we
get there, it's time to discuss ba Ba becoming a
(01:02):
better Allied Baba and Today's Baba A sponsored by Friends
of the movement. You can sign up for the free
voter wallet from fotmglobal dot com to support black businesses
and allied businesses as well as make an impact with
your spending. Again, that's Fotmglobal dot com. I'm going to
take this one this week if I can. I want
you to check out the twenty twenty four African American
Conference on Disabilities. The AACD is the premier comprehensive disability
(01:26):
conference in the United States that addresses the intersection between
race and disability. The conference examines the avenues for self
advocacy to ensure the effective provision of services, resources, and
enforcement of civil rights in the African American and disability communities.
This is from their website. We need your financial support
and sponsorship for our conference. Your sponsorship will make a
(01:47):
difference to help defray the costs to attend the conference
for individuals or families and financial need so they can
attain information and gain access to resources for themselves or
their family members with disabilities. There are a limited number
of scholarships for families to attend the conference. For more information,
please contact Ronaldo Fowler. That's our Fouler at Disability Rights
(02:08):
AZ dot org. Or you can go to the website
Disability Rights AZ dot org again Ronaldo Fowler Our Fowler
at Disability Rights az dot org or Disability Rights az
dot org. Either way you can get more information. We're
actually going to have an individual up on the show,
(02:28):
hopefully in the next couple of weeks, to discuss the
intersection of black life in America and certain cognitive disabilities.
My language, I'm still learning how to describe these things,
but I want you to know that I do have
a little cousin who is autistic, and he is right
(02:53):
at the intersection of being black and autistic. And there's
a lot to learn there, So stay tuned for more.
Right now, let's talk about Juneteenth. So you know, I
do you know I'm gonna say this man, you know, Biden, Biden,
(03:23):
There's no such thing as a perfect man. Not that
I would ever excuse Biden's policy.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Far from it.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I would never excuse his policy on how he's dealing
with Israel. That is, that is an excusable when they
call him genocide Joe like, I understand that, and I
would absolutely go along with that right But factually speaking,
(03:55):
Joe Biden is the reason that Juneteenth is a national holiday.
And that's something that is very hard for me and
for a lot of black people because this is a
conversation we've had on this show and a lot of
the speaks, this speaks the speaking engagements that we attend
Q and I and you know, and we've been in
(04:19):
private conversations behind closed doors where we discuss what it
was we wanted from our president in exchange for our
vote in twenty twenty versus what we got we did
get Juneteenth, which I maintain that's not nothing. That's not zero,
because it is possible to get in there and do zero.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Sure that was not even on our list of things.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
That right we weren't even checking for, however, but credit
where it's due. Juneteenth is a national holiday now, not
just something that we celebrate ourselves. And as a result
of that, it can be celebrated nationally. Like there are people,
well they'd get the day off from work, you know,
(05:02):
on Memorial Day, you do Memorial Day activities. On Saint
Patrick's Day, you do Saint Patrick's Day activities. It is
possible now that on Juneteenth you can do Juneteenth activities.
And we can circle back to Biden and all that.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
But oh, we will.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I know that because I saw your face. Man. But
but uh, right now, and talking about Juneteenth, you know,
I want to remind you that Q and I do
this show every week because we believe that allyship is special.
(05:42):
We know that once upon a time our people were slaves.
That's that's a reality that I have to live with
every day. You know, if your people came here on
the Mayflower, if your people came here on some boat
or some great excursion westward to make a life and
(06:02):
a name for themselves in the New World, or whatever
your story is, I'm sure it has more dignity than
the story where I say, yeah, my family, we came
and chained, We were slaves and lived short, hard lives
and never knew true happiness. And that DNA has made
(06:31):
me into the living, breathing being that I am now.
Make no mistake, I'm proud to be who I am.
I've found a way to be happy with it. Indeed,
we all have. I think that's part of our superpower
as a hero. But I'm not going to kid myself
and say, yeah, that's the move, that's the story. Let's
run that again, right. That's why I work hard, That's
(06:54):
why all of us work hard so that our children
and their children don't have to have that be their story,
don't have to endure that themselves. So when I look
at what could have been true of my life coming
(07:18):
from slaves, I'm aware that there were allies even back
then that were not Black, that were pushing to end slavery.
Allyship has been part and parcel to every major advancement
(07:39):
in you know, black people's status in this country, non
Jewish people. You know. Q and I we do episodes
of the Black Information Network. We were having a conversation
not too long ago about a Jewish gentleman who is
working to erode affirmative action and opportunities.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
To bring about he's not working to he's a successfully Yeah,
you're successfully done away with it.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, And he's continuing to attack the Fearless Fund and.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Any other initiative that looks to advance the causes and
the well being of the disadvantage.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And it's so funny because he's a Jewish man, and
that feels so strange. I know that you can't paint
every group with the same brush, but I always felt
like there might have been a special kinship there. So
to know that that was particularly that made me particularly sad.
But in any event, we're talking about allyship, and the
fact of the matter is that we would not have
(08:43):
had affirmative action in the first place had it not
been for allies. Right, So I'm saying all this to
establish that allies are very important, and indeed, the reason
we created this show is because we felt like there
was a need for us to be able to communicate
with allies, potential allies, allies who had you know, maybe
they had carried long and become weary and they needed
(09:08):
information and to know that they were appreciated, and a
hundred other reasons. We also know that that can be
a very scary place because if you don't know the
type of support that I need, and historically the people
that look like you have shown up and tried to
(09:31):
either steal the spotlight or just put on a show
and not really follow through, or had some like decidedly
underhanded intentions like hey, look, you guys are going to
be getting a lot of money. Let me help you
(09:52):
spend the money, and then just disappear with the money.
Because we can talk about the history of black banking, exploitation, exploitation,
that's the word I'm looking for. You know, over time,
it causes people to be wary, to be concerned. Right,
and so whereas there are people who would be allies
(10:14):
coming to the table saying hey, I want to help,
I want to you know whatever, if they don't know
how to do that, they can end up getting chastised.
And that can be a very deflating moment when a
person says, hey, look, I showed up to help you guys,
Now you're yelling at me, So now I won't do
anything right? And to that we push back, Q and I,
(10:35):
we push back and we say no, stay the course.
This is a learning process and everyone is different, and
everyone's timetables are different, everybody's learning curve is different. Don't
be afraid to make a mistake. We don't want you
to make mistakes, but don't be afraid that comes with
(10:56):
it is we're running this experiment with you, right. We
don't know where the boundaries are either. We know them
when we feel them, and we will tell you. But
don't be afraid to explore how far this can go.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
And in that spirit, to our brothers and sisters who
are celebrating our cultural celebration, our you know it's it's
a really interesting thing to celebrate things black in this
country because the only place on earth where black exists
(11:34):
as a I don't like to use the word race,
but race or ethnic group is the United States of America.
And the social construct of black and white being created
just to separate, to make plainly delineate these other people
who are allowed to be human beings, and these are
(11:55):
those that are less than. It is a very very
interesting place to try to be proud of one's blackness.
And when you are proud of it, put people push
back and say ignorant things like why is there no
White History Month? Why is there no celebration of whiteness? Well,
the construct was built in a way that everyone white
(12:22):
is first and foremost Jewish or Irish or German, or
English or Spanish or Scottish, and I can go on
and on, whereas seven to eight generations of black people
are black because we don't know before that that was
(12:44):
stolen from us. So it is infuriating too at every
step of every bit of progress that we've made for
there to be someone like the litigator that we spoke
about earlier, Bloom that shows up and says no, no, no,
not even today. We allow you your self dignity, your
(13:13):
self esteem, your self reliance, your self, your self respect.
It is an infuriating thing to be put in that
position and to be made to feel like you are
(13:33):
now somehow the person that is wrong for trying to
be proud. Let us realize that now that this is
a national holiday, we've invited a lot of people to
the party, and some of them will show up and
be clumsy because they don't know any better. They don't
(13:58):
mean any harm. They do want to act the participate
in not just our celebration, but in our progress. The
idea that allyship doesn't exist is a false pretense, and
that is us acting in bad.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Faith sometimes right, So.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
We don't have to, you know, as you would do
a child, pop the hand of those that misstep. Instead,
grab their hand and help them get on the right track.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And I love this. Yeah, this is yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I mean, we have to be as inclusive as we
would hope others would be for us.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You know, it's funny because Q and I we had
this conversation when we were putting together the show. We're
kind of preparing to discuss this, and I love that
analogy in that approach because it actually does speak to
kind of like best practices. Right. So on the one side,
for those listening that would be allies that would say, hey,
(14:57):
you know what, we're going to do something to honor
June Teeth, the spirit of June Teeth like you would
for Memorial Day or whatever else, you know, the fallen
soldiers or you know, anything like that. Right, we are
going to show up and we are going to take
a moment to really understand what it is that we're selling.
We're gonna be intentional about this day. For those people,
(15:21):
we need you to be unafraid to engage. I'm unafraid
to make mistakes. With that said, don't look for mistakes
to make, you know, find something you're comfortable with, but
do something right. And we have we have some things
that you can start off with.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
And for those of us who, let's call us, the
people who are closest to the actual Juneteenth Holiday, namely
black people, I say to us, I don't really need
to say it. I can just echo what you just said,
which is, let's be mindful that people are new to
(16:03):
this party and they might be a little clumsy, but
this is where we are. This is what we're doing.
And the truth is this is what we want. We
do not want to be at the margins. We have
been relegated to the margins the whole time, and now
we have a hot This is not doctor Martin Luther
(16:24):
King Day where he's talking about little black boys and
little white girls. No, this is something that puts our
history into the minds of the country every single year.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I wouldn't be shocked if the other side tries to
find a way to renounce or denounce or remove this
holiday from the calendar.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Listen with strange. Stranger things have happened, But for now,
this is what we got. So let's talk about how
to celebrate JUNETEA first thing.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Cookouts that's the one, yeah, traditionally and the two traditionally Yeah,
that's that's kind of what you do.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So what happens is family and friends gathering, share food
and drinks, and these can include you know, red food
and drinks. You know, I want some kool aid. You know,
I want some cool I want some cool are and
some people see them as symbols of resilience enjoy, while
other people see them as symbols of suffering and sacrifice.
Some traditional cookout foods include barbecue, fried chicken, potato, salad, watermelon,
(17:24):
you know, soul food, you know, all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Right, Watermelon being on that list is crazy, Like reading
fried chicken and watermelon on that list is crazy, except
when you really know, first of all, how good fried
chicken and watermelon are. Oh yeah, but you realize that
even the idea of those being decidedly black and being
positioned in a way that feels racist was another societal construct.
(17:49):
Most of the country, all of the country, I'd like
to argue, enjoys fried chicken.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Human beings, mel yeah, human beings. Yeah. So listen real quick,
we've had this episode, we've done this for we might
need to bring it back, but just so you know,
the reason why watermelon specifically is associated with black people.
Once upon a time, black people were not allowed to
have vanilla ice cream, so watermelon became associated with kind
(18:17):
of like a treat for black people. And then, you know,
post slavery, Jim Crow South watermelon farmers that became a
professional a lot of black people started to do. So
those racist caricatures of black people eating watermelons comes from
that time, and it's a testament to black independence and
black resilience. But of course, as we mentioned, it was
(18:37):
taken away from black people and rebranded as a bad thing,
and then now black people, even myself, i'd be afraid
to eat. If someone put a piece of fried chicken
and watermelon on the same plate and gave it to
me and there are white people around, it probably wouldn't
eat it.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I showed up for one of my first DJ gigs ever,
and a part of my rider was that this place
would feed me. And the first meal that I showed
up at this Irish establishment was fried chicken and watermelon,
and I'll never forget it because the area I didn't
have like a dressing room or a backstage area. The
(19:12):
area was the platform that I DJ'ed on. They put
a table in a chair so people could watch me eat,
and I remember looking around like are they serious? But
see there's the mistakes that people could make. And then
a chef came out and said hello to me, and
he was Mexican. He absolutely meant nothing by it, and
the food was incredible. Let me start there, but I
(19:35):
had that moment of pause. I'm on stage in a
room where I am the only black person and there
is a plate of fried chicken and a plate of
French fries and watermelon. And I was prepared to be
offended because, of course, but I met the chef. I
could tell from her very first words that he did
not mean it in any sort of way. But like
(19:55):
you said, this was stolen from us, rebranded and put
me in that awful position to have to feel that way.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
You know, what's funny about this is that there are
so many people in this country. Most of them are
why that eat food and don't think about how it looks.
It's not even a thing. They don't have to doesn't
even But you know, I remember I told the story
about when I walked into my studio at the old
radio station and there was a banana. Someone had put
(20:22):
a banana on the mixer and I was about to
tear it all down, like oh, somebody got something to say,
let's go, you know, but you know, anyway, you understand,
don't be afraid to make mistakes, be prepared to learn
from them. Engage. We're all here together, especially those of
us who are allies, and well we can grow some
(20:44):
other things that you can do. I'll just get through
this really quickly before we run out of time. Festivals.
These can include music, food, dancing, parades, and protests. We're
going to be doing a live during.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yes on Juneteenth, Kendrick Lamar is doing a live concert
at the Forum in Englewood. We will be live on
YouTube watching this concert, reacting to it, and having some
conversation and back and forth with our listeners and supporters.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
All right, Some more things you can do to celebrate
unitem include prayer and religious services of course, educational events,
cultural activities, which can include visiting museums, cultural sites, or
historic neighborhoods to see murals and historical markers. Many museums
also offer lectures, performances, and other live programming. And supporting
black communities. This can include supporting black owned businesses, black
(21:34):
organization and individuals in your community. You can also reflect
on how you uphold white supremacy and how you plan
to dismantle it.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
You can also come and view our live on YouTube,
YouTube dot com slash civic SciTE.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Okay, that's it, and oh there's a ton of books
out there you can read. And we're working on a
book too that you'll be able to read soon enough.
But lots of things that you can do here to
help celebrate team. Don't be afraid to make a misas,
but that'll do it. For that, We'll leave it right there.
I'd like to thank you as always for tuning into
Civic Cipher. I have been your host Rams this job.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
I am qward. I am forever grateful to our listeners.
Thank you guys for helping us grow and supporting us.
Visit civiccipher dot com, download episodes, share them, like, comment, subscribe,
tell your friends about us, and continue to support us.
We will try to continue to show up for you,
guys and be a voice in rooms that we are
(22:28):
in that you are not. Civic Cipher on everything across
every platform you can think of civiy Cipher Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
You can follow me at Rams' job at I am
q ward and don't forget if you have any questions,
any topics, if you want to make a donation, you
want to download this or any previous episodes. Let's say
you missed half of the show or you tuned in
halfway through, you can also hit civiccipher dot com to
download that. And let's keep the conversation going, y'all until
next week.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Peace,
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