00:00:01
Speaker 1: Still broadcasting from the Civic Cypher Studios, welcome back to the QR Code, where we share perspectives, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. The man you are about to hear from is a man who got a Rolex as a gift, but now I got to get him a Cartier. He is the Q in the QR Code. He goes by the name of Q-War.
00:00:19
Speaker 2: And the voice that you just heard is one of those friends who says things like that and then does it. So I guess I should start getting fitted for a new Cartier because this is Ramses talking and that's how he gets down. He is the R in the QR code. As I mentioned, his name is Ramses Jha. All right.
00:00:37
Speaker 1: Today's episode includes a conversation about why Asians do so well when compared to black people. That's a funny way of putting it. What we can all ask our grandparents to learn more about them. And much, much more. As always, for anything you might miss or may have missed, download the full episode at CivicCypher.com, BINews.com, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:00:55
Speaker 2: We'd love for you to.
00:00:56
Speaker 1: Lock in with us and ride out to the honeycomb hideout. If you're just tuning in to the QR code, Ramsey's Jaw, again, that's my name. Q Ward, that's his name. And right now it's time for Q Ward's Clap Back. Overtime. Q, what you got for us today?
00:01:10
Speaker 2: Turn the volume up a little bit. Because I'm going to try to say this in a less animated tone than a usual clapback. Okay. And I just want you to kind of answer these questions out loud, even though I can't hear you because they're not rhetorical. But how many times have you been listening to us, this show in particular, or Civic Cipher, and had to turn the show down because your kid got in the car? Think about it for a second. Because again, this is not a rhetorical question. I want you to actually count how many times you've had to do that. You're driving. We're talking about something that happened to someone who looks like you. The door opens and before they're all the way in their seat, your hand is already on the dial. Realize that nobody taught you to do that. You just do it in the same way that if you hit the brakes unexpectedly really hard, you automatically reach over to try to shield the other person. Your arm isn't strong enough in the event that it really needed to, but that's an auto response from you. And then you have the rest of the ride to decide how much of it they get to know and when and how you're going to say it when you finally have the type of conversations that Rems and I have had to have with our children. I want you to call that what it is. It's work. Not a feeling.
00:02:48
Speaker 3: Not sensitivity. Not you being dramatic.
00:02:52
Speaker 1: Work.
00:02:54
Speaker 2: The kind that with decisions in it and judgment and a cost. And they have a cost the same way anything else that you get paid for has a cost. Except there's no schedule for it. You don't punch a clock. Nobody counts the amount of times that you do it or how long. There's no line on anybody's data processing sheet. There's no P & L statement. And you're not going to get a check for it. But it's work. Here's the part that people outside of us can't see. The same story is two completely different jobs working. depending on who's reading the story. For one person, it's simply information. They read it, they feel a way about it. Maybe they say something and then it's over. They go to work, they go to the gym, they go make dinner. For you, it's an assessment. Is this near me? Is this near my family? Does this change anything about the way my son leaves the house? Do I need to make a call tonight to his mom, to my mom, to my sister, to my daughter, to my family? Same story. One person processes it. The other person got an assignment from it. And then there's the shift. The shift that you work at your job, which nobody scheduled either. Somebody is going to bring it up at work. They mean well. We've interacted with a lot of well-meaning people. And they're going to look at you and whether they mean to or not, everybody else is going to look at you too. And in about a half a second, you have to decide, am I about to have a real conversation here? Like, do I say the real thing? Do I say the medium thing? Or do I say the polite thing so everybody can finish their lunch? You've made that calculation a thousand times. You've gotten good at it. You got good at it in the way that anybody gets good at anything.
00:05:19
Speaker 3: Practice.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: You do it over and over again. I'm looking at Ramses, but I mean you. If you can hear me. You've done it over and over again because you had to. You're in a group chat. The group chat is popping. Your mother calls you to see. Did you see that? You read the comments under the story, even though you know better, and you find the ones about people who look like you. And you carry those around daily. None of that is on the timesheet. And then after all of it, somebody is going to tell you. You seem tired. You seem angrier lately.
00:06:07
Speaker 4: Or.
00:06:08
Speaker 2: It seems like everything's political with you now. You might start to notice in my tone that I might be talking about myself, but hopefully somebody can hear me that also experiences life this way. How come you're so political now? I want to be very clear about this part. And like I said, I hope you turn this up because I don't want to get more animated talking about it. You're not tired because something's wrong with you. You're tired because you've been working a second job. For most of us, our whole adult life. And I'm not going to tell you take care of yourself because you've heard that it's cheap and it doesn't fix anything. There's nothing off with you and there's nothing wrong with being who you are. So I won't pretend that I have a special something to give you. What I have is the name and it's work. It's always been work. And you've been doing that work for free. One more thing and then I'll let Ramses get on with the show. When you feel that this week. When you can't explain why Tuesday wore you out. When someone asks what's wrong and you genuinely don't have an answer for them. Do not look in the mirror or within yourself trying to figure out what's broken in you. Nothing's broken. You've just been working. Over time. Ramses.
00:07:42
Speaker 1: Well, I know one person besides you who's been working overtime and that's me. So if no one else, it definitely resonates around here. But I know that a lot of people share in this burden and just know nothing lasts forever.
00:07:59
Speaker 2: So we'll be back.
00:08:01
Speaker 1: If you're just locking in to the QR code, RamsesJow and QWord, those are your hosts. I'm Ramses and that's Q. You believe in soulmates?
00:08:10
Speaker 2: Ah, I knew you were going to ask me this question.
00:08:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course.
00:08:13
Speaker 2: And I still got caught off guard.
00:08:14
Speaker 3: It's on the script.
00:08:15
Speaker 1: You know I left my tea.
00:08:18
Speaker 2: You left your tea. I left my tea.
00:08:22
Speaker 3: Soulmates.
00:08:26
Speaker 1: Maybe. Oh, okay.
00:08:29
Speaker 3: Right? Yeah.
00:08:31
Speaker 2: And mostly because I don't immediately think what everybody else thought when they heard that.
00:08:35
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:08:37
Speaker 2: I'm certain, and maybe it'll change now that I'm talking, because once you say it differently, people are aware that they're being observed. Nobody wants to fit into the box you tried to put them in, so they start looking for other ways to process it. But most of us, when we hear the word soulmate, we mean it romantically.
00:08:55
Speaker 3: Okay. Instantly and without second thought.
00:08:57
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:08:58
Speaker 3: I'd go with that.
00:09:00
Speaker 2: I've had Far more lifelong, unconditional friendships than I've ever had romantic relationships. And that's true for everyone. I don't even have to do any research. Okay.
00:09:16
Speaker 1: All right.
00:09:17
Speaker 2: I see what you're doing. Most people have had multiple deeply in love romantic partners or none at all. I know some people who have never been in love like that. Like somebody a lot, maybe had a half a girlfriend once, half a boyfriend once, but I don't know a lot of people, but I know multiple people who have never had that deep romantic partner. For the two people who come to my mind when I think that, I've been friends with both of them for 25 years. So imagine that. They've never had a I want to marry this person, romantic relationship.
00:09:59
Speaker 4: Hmm.
00:10:00
Speaker 2: But they met me one day in the wild, in the world, and we never let each other go. And there's no romance there.
00:10:07
Speaker 5: Okay.
00:10:07
Speaker 2: What do you call those people who become family involuntarily forever? Sure.
00:10:13
Speaker 4: Right?
00:10:14
Speaker 5: Sure.
00:10:15
Speaker 2: So we think soulmate, romance, roses, wedding rings, heart-shaped eye emojis. What does the word mean? I haven't researched it, so that's, I'm asking you guys for that feedback.
00:10:28
Speaker 3: DM me, get in the comments.
00:10:30
Speaker 2: I don't know what soulmate means to the person who wrote the question, right? But I'll tell you two stories. 2003, NBA All-Star Week. Everybody I know goes to Atlanta, Georgia. I go to Phoenix, Arizona. Ramses jokes on the show. Y'all can't see me on the radio, but I'm looking directly into the camera right now. Ramses says on this show all the time that Q is a model, which is a ridiculous thing to say today. However, once upon a time, I was a published cash a check from a modeling agency or a designer or a brand model. And I got flewed out.
00:11:16
Speaker 3: Dang.
00:11:17
Speaker 1: It's crazy.
00:11:18
Speaker 2: Back before that was a thing, I got flewed out to Arizona to shoot for a catalog for a department store. The young lady who made sure I got flewed out, her aunt was the photographer for the catalog. And I learned later that this girl liked me and it wasn't even about the catalog. She flew me out because she was trying to. Y'all can't see me, but, you know, whatever, wherever your mind went. But the mistake she made is she took me to Arizona State University and because she knew I was a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, Blue Phi, you know, she started introducing me to Sigmas, most notably a young man named Thomas Maltz. Thomas and I met and that threw that girl's whole romantic plan off because I ain't never hang out with her again, really, after that. I mean, a couple, two, three times, kind of by chance, but Had she not done that, I would have spent that entire trip with her, probably.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah.
00:12:20
Speaker 3: And maybe never came back out.
00:12:21
Speaker 2: Here again after that. I don't know where that would have led. But because she introduced me to Thomas, her and I never kicked it. So who knows what could have been of that? Because she was a dope person, smart, beautiful, and flew me out. But I thought for professional reasons. Like I said, I learned later that it was personal. But two days later, when it was time for me to fly back to Detroit, Thomas asked why I was going back to the D. I was working at the mall. I was done with college. He's like, what you got to go back home for? And my mom, I didn't know at the time, was secretly hoping that I wouldn't come back because she's like, what are you going to do here? You're not going to run the streets in Detroit. What are you doing? Thomas gave me either an on-ramp or exit ramp, however you want to view it. He says, listen, man, I got to go to class. But think about it. And I said, look, bro, I came here with 75 bucks. This day three. No, no, no. This day three. So I don't got 75 bucks no more. I got like $ 11. Dang. I can't stay here, dog. I got seven draws because I double pack draws because, you know, it'd be hot. Sometimes you got to read, you know, I got seven underwears and $ 11.
00:13:35
Speaker 3: I got to go back to the D.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: That's a tough spot.
00:13:37
Speaker 3: Motes goes to class, comes back from class, hands me an envelope.
00:13:42
Speaker 2: I'm a little pad. Forgive me if I'm saying this wrong, but either like $ 1, 100 or $ 2, 000 in it. He had a Walmart bag, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant. We used to call them wife beaters. We just call them undershirts now because wife beater is a crazy. That's crazy. Garment name. It was like, listen, bro, if you have to go back to Detroit, I'll shoot you to the airport. Go mob. Pleasure to meet you. But don't think you have to go. Don't go because you think you have to go. Because you don't. Sat the bag down, handed me the envelope and went and sat down. That was 23 years ago and Thomas Motes is the godfather of my children now. So what do you call that person who you met two days ago who changes your life?
00:14:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, Tommy's good people.
00:14:29
Speaker 3: Here you go, bro.
00:14:30
Speaker 2: You don't have to do nothing you thought you had to do before you met me and you just met me here.
00:14:37
Speaker 3: Fast forward.
00:14:38
Speaker 2: That was 2003. Fast forward 2008. I'm... Bartending in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had spent the summer in Arizona and New York City.
00:14:49
Speaker 3: Ironically, modeling.
00:14:51
Speaker 2: I shot for this magazine called Inked. It was a tattoo magazine that was really popular at that time. And I got featured in a story in there. And a young lady named Sarah McCogan, shout out to Sarah, shot me for that. Incredible photographer, incredible person. But she introduced me to this. She took me to an event where I met this young lady named Elizabeth. And then Elizabeth and legendary Damon, two legendary Detroit people. I connected them and it started an entire new ecosystem for me. So fast forward, I'm bartending in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Elizabeth calls me. Hey, are you in Arizona? And I'm like, no, but I can get there. She had a job for me just on the strength of me being from Detroit. I had no experience in the field that she was plugging me into. She was the vice president of Hennessy at the time. Moet Hennessy, USA. I'm sorry. I don't want to shrink her title. Elizabeth was a boss. Devil Wears Prada boss. Yeah. Or Devil Wears Louis boss.
00:15:52
Speaker 5: Okay.
00:15:52
Speaker 2: That makes sense. But I get out here. She gives me this job. And I was kind of set up to fail. Not because she didn't give me a fair chance. But I was pushing cognac in Arizona. And that's just not what they do here. They're tequila, vodka, beer. They're not Hennessy. Because the black population here is not. Statistically viable or something like that.
00:16:12
Speaker 3: Statistically relevant, yeah.
00:16:13
Speaker 2: To where pushing a cognac would lead to success. But I was having a little bit of success and this stranger wrote a letter to Moet Hennessy USA about how fantastic this new field market manager was doing in this market. I had led the first 90 days of launch. I led the entire United States in sales conversions. I was doing incredible. But somebody who didn't know me took it upon themselves to like amplify me and blow me up to this company. My bosses and my boss's boss flew out here to like see it in action. And I was able to excel in that space. That gentleman then became a best friend of mine. My children call him Uncle Ramses. Here we are pushing on 20 years next year. I've been married and divorced. I knew him before I met that woman, married her, divorced her, and then 10 years passed, 12 years passed, and he's still here, as is Thomas, as is Don Burton, as is Jared Butts.
00:17:23
Speaker 1: Shout out, Jared.
00:17:24
Speaker 2: I'm 20, 30 years in with these people. For some of them, proposed to three different people in the time that I've known them. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with this person. three separate times and didn't. And these friends are still here. So do soulmates exist? Depends on what you call a soulmate. If it's what I just described, then absolutely. Clearly they do.
00:17:55
Speaker 1: Man, that was really beautiful.
00:17:57
Speaker 3: Well said, sir.
00:17:57
Speaker 2: Just the truth.
00:18:00
Speaker 3: All right.
00:18:00
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for tuning in to The QR Code. Ramses Jha still on your microphone along with Q Ward. Would Jesus have voted for Trump? We just almost.
00:18:11
Speaker 2: Had our first spit take in the history of our show right now. Okay.
00:18:18
Speaker 3: So, no. Right? Jesus would have got deported, beat up, detained. Wasn't Jesus a brown-skinned Palestinian man? Yeah, man.
00:18:30
Speaker 2: I thought he was.
00:18:31
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:18:31
Speaker 3: What are you talking about?
00:18:32
Speaker 4: No. Jesus.
00:18:34
Speaker 3: Well, no.
00:18:35
Speaker 5: No.
00:18:38
Speaker 3: You're talking about the son.
00:18:40
Speaker 2: Of God, Jesus?
00:18:40
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:18:41
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ. Born to a... Jesus of Nazareth?
00:18:43
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:18:44
Speaker 3: Born to a virgin in Bethlehem? Yeah. No. No.
00:18:49
Speaker 2: First of all, if he was here, he'd have got deported. Sure.
00:18:54
Speaker 3: And or his family would already be dealing with the... You know what I'm saying?
00:19:00
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:19:00
Speaker 2: No, I got you.
00:19:01
Speaker 3: I was way ahead of you. Would Jesus... Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Jesus, Mary, and Jojo? Jesus, Mary, and Jojo?
00:19:14
Speaker 5: No!
00:19:15
Speaker 2: Jesus ain't voting for Donald. Jesus' family, if they were here, would have been round-upped and deported and or bullied and or made to feel unsafe and uncomfortable and, and, and, and. At worst.
00:19:34
Speaker 2: Jesus' family wouldn't have voted at all, feeling like they were given a false choice. Do we vote for the guy who's going to try to kill us or for the guy who's already killing us with the choices that they would have felt like they were making? given? Jesus Christ, however, with far more in the way of knowledge than the rest of us, definitely wouldn't have voted for Donald Trump.
00:20:03
Speaker 3: We got a whole segment here, Doug. Jesus would have organized. No, I'm not good.
00:20:08
Speaker 2: Where's this camera at? Jesus would have organized, mobilized. Jesus would have launched a marketing campaign. The disciples would have been outside.
00:20:20
Speaker 3: Mary would have.
00:20:21
Speaker 2: Been on all the time.
00:20:22
Speaker 3: No. I know we got a segment.
00:20:24
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
00:20:25
Speaker 3: The question though.
00:20:26
Speaker 2: It's crazy, right?
00:20:27
Speaker 3: I wasn't ready. I read the pre-production script and I still wasn't. With Jesus.
00:20:32
Speaker 2: You talking about the three wise men?
00:20:35
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:20:38
Speaker 1: With the star and the stable and the manger.
00:20:40
Speaker 3: So it was Mary. Okay. Nevermind. We'll talk about that later.
00:20:42
Speaker 2: I'm about to act.
00:20:43
Speaker 3: Okay. Okay. So Virgin Mary's son. That's the one. That's the Jesus. All right. So dig this.
00:20:49
Speaker 2: Go do the show, man.
00:20:50
Speaker 3: I'm sorry.
00:20:50
Speaker 4: Dig this. All right.
00:20:51
Speaker 2: Jesus.
00:20:52
Speaker 1: It's funny that you mentioned that too, because Jesus says so much stuff about how to treat the foreigner.
00:20:56
Speaker 3: And I'm so glad you made that connection.
00:20:57
Speaker 4: All right.
00:20:57
Speaker 3: Anyway.
00:20:58
Speaker 1: So there's this creator that I like. This is going to be a long clip. So buckle up. It's going to be a long ride. You're not going to hear my voice or Q's voice. This guy's name is Dan McClellan. And he is a scholar of the Bible and the actual Bible, not the King James Version that you read.
00:21:17
Speaker 2: The original text.
00:21:18
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:21:18
Speaker 1: You got to learn Aramaic, the actual language that Jesus spoke in order to understand, which is the root language of the Arabic language and the Hebrew language and all that.
00:21:28
Speaker 2: Man, these people ain't... Way back.
00:21:30
Speaker 1: So anyway, Dan McClellan takes some audio from Charlie Kirk. And you're going to love it. So without further ado, would Jesus have voted for Trump?
00:21:43
Speaker 2: Let's go.
00:21:43
Speaker 1: Do you think Jesus would have voted for Trump?
00:21:51
Speaker 3: Do I think Jesus? All right, let's see it.
00:21:55
Speaker 5: First of all, Jesus intentionally didn't vote and did not care about the Roman guard. You remember he said, pay unto Caesar what is Caesar, render unto God what is God.
00:22:02
Speaker 4: So the render unto Caesar discourse doesn't have anything to do with demonstrating Jesus didn't care about the Roman government. But to insist that Jesus intentionally didn't vote would require that some process comparable to voting was available to Jesus in first century CE Galilee or Judea, and no such process was available to Jesus. So the notion he intentionally didn't vote is laughable on its very face.
00:22:33
Speaker 3: I think Jesus would love some of the stuff that Trump is doing. It's a silly question, but I'm just, you know. No, I mean, fine. It's like, what did Jesus teach us? Jesus says, don't touch children.
00:22:41
Speaker 5: Okay, so he would love the fact that Donald Trump repealed Roe versus Wade. He would love the fact that child sex trafficking is being focused on in this current government.
00:22:49
Speaker 4: So neither of those things is true because Trump's approach to abortion and to child sex trafficking are not part of any kind of sincere attempt to actually efficiently or effectively mitigate the rate of either.
00:23:04
Speaker 3: They are tokens.
00:23:06
Speaker 4: They are propaganda in order to try to win the culture wars because Trump's policies actually don't really significantly improve either. When it comes to abortion, if MAGO were concerned with reducing the rate at which women seek out abortions, they would significantly increase access to comprehensive sex education, to contraception, to women's health care. That would... more efficiently and effectively reduce the rate of abortion in our nation far more than just criminalizing it. But criminalizing it scratches the right-wing authoritarian itch. So that's what they're doing. And similar things are true of their approach to child sex trafficking. A lot of this is making token attempts to try to improve things, and some of the policies have actually improved things, but others have made things worse. For instance, a lot of people would argue that the sex trafficking propaganda is really a pretext for cracking down on immigration. And a lot of advocacy groups have pointed out that Trump's approach to addressing child sex trafficking actually makes things worse because, for instance, a lot of victims who are not citizens or even some who are. will not cooperate because they're scared of a government they know might attack them next, might deport them, might separate them from their family, might send them out of the country, might send them to a gulag somewhere where nobody knows where they are. Because Trump's approach to immigration is taking priority over any actual concern for mitigating child sex trafficking. So MAGA's approach to abortion and child sex trafficking are really about identity markers in the culture wars. They're not actually prioritizing mitigating the rate of either. They're prioritizing the leveraging of that identity marker to serve the interests of their right-wing authoritarian and social dominance orientation identity politics. And the Jesus of the Gospels says, would see right through that, just like anyone with the capacity for critical thought today can see right through that propaganda. So no, Jesus would not love that. Jesus would actually be quite opposed to Trump's Machiavellian approach to using immigration as a rhetorical bludgeon, as a wedge in order to try to increase their access to power and resources.
00:25:44
Speaker 5: Jesus Christ said a lot of things such as, you know, sin no more and things such as love your neighbor are things that we should embody in every single one of our public policy decisions.
00:25:53
Speaker 4: Which is what makes it so absolutely laughable to actually suggest that Jesus would vote for an unrepentant rapist and serial sexual predator and all around mendacious and avaricious moron who will gladly demonize and brutalize and deport neighbors, including children, if that helps him grab onto a little bit more power. Jesus directly excoriates multiple times across the Gospels people who try to leverage public displays of piety and faithfulness in an effort to be seen of others, in an effort to gain their reward in this life. In other words, in an effort to advance their own personal interests. And that's precisely what Donald Trump and MAGA are doing.
00:26:47
Speaker 2: And again.
00:26:49
Speaker 4: The Jesus of the Gospels would be able to see right through that, just like people today with a capacity for critical thought can see right through that. So, no, if we took Jesus from the early first century C.E. and transferred him to today and taught him a language that would allow him to understand what's going on in the United States and taught him world history up till now and taught him U.S. history today, and taught him about the structures of power that are in play today, there's no way the Jesus of the Gospels would ever even think about voting for someone like Donald Trump.
00:27:30
Speaker 1: Well, the rest of that goes on to show Charlie Kirk saying that Jesus wouldn't have voted and throwing in the towel. Um, so that was a bit of a cop out, but you know, he tried his best. He tried it and shout out to Dan McClellan for always coming through in the clutch. He's one of my favorite creators. Be sure to check him out. Uh, but I guess, uh, Q said it best. There's no way Jesus would have voted for Trump. So I guess that's that, right?
00:27:58
Speaker 2: It's crazy.
00:28:00
Speaker 1: You have been listening to The QR Code. Today's show was produced by Chris Thompson and Dan Pavlich. If you have some thoughts you'd like to share, visit CivicCypher.com to ask a question, share some encouragement, or support the show. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. Today's episode includes a conversation about whether or not you believe in soulmates. Would Jesus have voted for Trump? And the date on your food means almost nothing. As always... For anything you might miss or may have missed, download the full episode at CivicCypher.com. That's C-I-V-I-C-C-I-P-H-E-R dot com, BINews.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. For our editorial content covering hip-hop culture, visit hiphopweeklymagazine.com. Also, be sure to check us out on all social media at CivicCypher. Again, C-I-V-I-C-C-I-P-H-E-R. I'm your host, Ramses Jha, on all social media. And you can find Q at IMQWard on all platforms as well. And be sure to keep it right here because we'll be back to share our news with our voice from our perspective right here on The QR Code.
Speaker 1: Still broadcasting from the Civic Cypher Studios, welcome back to the QR Code, where we share perspectives, seek understanding, and shape outcomes. The man you are about to hear from is a man who got a Rolex as a gift, but now I got to get him a Cartier. He is the Q in the QR Code. He goes by the name of Q-War.
00:00:19
Speaker 2: And the voice that you just heard is one of those friends who says things like that and then does it. So I guess I should start getting fitted for a new Cartier because this is Ramses talking and that's how he gets down. He is the R in the QR code. As I mentioned, his name is Ramses Jha. All right.
00:00:37
Speaker 1: Today's episode includes a conversation about why Asians do so well when compared to black people. That's a funny way of putting it. What we can all ask our grandparents to learn more about them. And much, much more. As always, for anything you might miss or may have missed, download the full episode at CivicCypher.com, BINews.com, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:00:55
Speaker 2: We'd love for you to.
00:00:56
Speaker 1: Lock in with us and ride out to the honeycomb hideout. If you're just tuning in to the QR code, Ramsey's Jaw, again, that's my name. Q Ward, that's his name. And right now it's time for Q Ward's Clap Back. Overtime. Q, what you got for us today?
00:01:10
Speaker 2: Turn the volume up a little bit. Because I'm going to try to say this in a less animated tone than a usual clapback. Okay. And I just want you to kind of answer these questions out loud, even though I can't hear you because they're not rhetorical. But how many times have you been listening to us, this show in particular, or Civic Cipher, and had to turn the show down because your kid got in the car? Think about it for a second. Because again, this is not a rhetorical question. I want you to actually count how many times you've had to do that. You're driving. We're talking about something that happened to someone who looks like you. The door opens and before they're all the way in their seat, your hand is already on the dial. Realize that nobody taught you to do that. You just do it in the same way that if you hit the brakes unexpectedly really hard, you automatically reach over to try to shield the other person. Your arm isn't strong enough in the event that it really needed to, but that's an auto response from you. And then you have the rest of the ride to decide how much of it they get to know and when and how you're going to say it when you finally have the type of conversations that Rems and I have had to have with our children. I want you to call that what it is. It's work. Not a feeling.
00:02:48
Speaker 3: Not sensitivity. Not you being dramatic.
00:02:52
Speaker 1: Work.
00:02:54
Speaker 2: The kind that with decisions in it and judgment and a cost. And they have a cost the same way anything else that you get paid for has a cost. Except there's no schedule for it. You don't punch a clock. Nobody counts the amount of times that you do it or how long. There's no line on anybody's data processing sheet. There's no P & L statement. And you're not going to get a check for it. But it's work. Here's the part that people outside of us can't see. The same story is two completely different jobs working. depending on who's reading the story. For one person, it's simply information. They read it, they feel a way about it. Maybe they say something and then it's over. They go to work, they go to the gym, they go make dinner. For you, it's an assessment. Is this near me? Is this near my family? Does this change anything about the way my son leaves the house? Do I need to make a call tonight to his mom, to my mom, to my sister, to my daughter, to my family? Same story. One person processes it. The other person got an assignment from it. And then there's the shift. The shift that you work at your job, which nobody scheduled either. Somebody is going to bring it up at work. They mean well. We've interacted with a lot of well-meaning people. And they're going to look at you and whether they mean to or not, everybody else is going to look at you too. And in about a half a second, you have to decide, am I about to have a real conversation here? Like, do I say the real thing? Do I say the medium thing? Or do I say the polite thing so everybody can finish their lunch? You've made that calculation a thousand times. You've gotten good at it. You got good at it in the way that anybody gets good at anything.
00:05:19
Speaker 3: Practice.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: You do it over and over again. I'm looking at Ramses, but I mean you. If you can hear me. You've done it over and over again because you had to. You're in a group chat. The group chat is popping. Your mother calls you to see. Did you see that? You read the comments under the story, even though you know better, and you find the ones about people who look like you. And you carry those around daily. None of that is on the timesheet. And then after all of it, somebody is going to tell you. You seem tired. You seem angrier lately.
00:06:07
Speaker 4: Or.
00:06:08
Speaker 2: It seems like everything's political with you now. You might start to notice in my tone that I might be talking about myself, but hopefully somebody can hear me that also experiences life this way. How come you're so political now? I want to be very clear about this part. And like I said, I hope you turn this up because I don't want to get more animated talking about it. You're not tired because something's wrong with you. You're tired because you've been working a second job. For most of us, our whole adult life. And I'm not going to tell you take care of yourself because you've heard that it's cheap and it doesn't fix anything. There's nothing off with you and there's nothing wrong with being who you are. So I won't pretend that I have a special something to give you. What I have is the name and it's work. It's always been work. And you've been doing that work for free. One more thing and then I'll let Ramses get on with the show. When you feel that this week. When you can't explain why Tuesday wore you out. When someone asks what's wrong and you genuinely don't have an answer for them. Do not look in the mirror or within yourself trying to figure out what's broken in you. Nothing's broken. You've just been working. Over time. Ramses.
00:07:42
Speaker 1: Well, I know one person besides you who's been working overtime and that's me. So if no one else, it definitely resonates around here. But I know that a lot of people share in this burden and just know nothing lasts forever.
00:07:59
Speaker 2: So we'll be back.
00:08:01
Speaker 1: If you're just locking in to the QR code, RamsesJow and QWord, those are your hosts. I'm Ramses and that's Q. You believe in soulmates?
00:08:10
Speaker 2: Ah, I knew you were going to ask me this question.
00:08:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course.
00:08:13
Speaker 2: And I still got caught off guard.
00:08:14
Speaker 3: It's on the script.
00:08:15
Speaker 1: You know I left my tea.
00:08:18
Speaker 2: You left your tea. I left my tea.
00:08:22
Speaker 3: Soulmates.
00:08:26
Speaker 1: Maybe. Oh, okay.
00:08:29
Speaker 3: Right? Yeah.
00:08:31
Speaker 2: And mostly because I don't immediately think what everybody else thought when they heard that.
00:08:35
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:08:37
Speaker 2: I'm certain, and maybe it'll change now that I'm talking, because once you say it differently, people are aware that they're being observed. Nobody wants to fit into the box you tried to put them in, so they start looking for other ways to process it. But most of us, when we hear the word soulmate, we mean it romantically.
00:08:55
Speaker 3: Okay. Instantly and without second thought.
00:08:57
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:08:58
Speaker 3: I'd go with that.
00:09:00
Speaker 2: I've had Far more lifelong, unconditional friendships than I've ever had romantic relationships. And that's true for everyone. I don't even have to do any research. Okay.
00:09:16
Speaker 1: All right.
00:09:17
Speaker 2: I see what you're doing. Most people have had multiple deeply in love romantic partners or none at all. I know some people who have never been in love like that. Like somebody a lot, maybe had a half a girlfriend once, half a boyfriend once, but I don't know a lot of people, but I know multiple people who have never had that deep romantic partner. For the two people who come to my mind when I think that, I've been friends with both of them for 25 years. So imagine that. They've never had a I want to marry this person, romantic relationship.
00:09:59
Speaker 4: Hmm.
00:10:00
Speaker 2: But they met me one day in the wild, in the world, and we never let each other go. And there's no romance there.
00:10:07
Speaker 5: Okay.
00:10:07
Speaker 2: What do you call those people who become family involuntarily forever? Sure.
00:10:13
Speaker 4: Right?
00:10:14
Speaker 5: Sure.
00:10:15
Speaker 2: So we think soulmate, romance, roses, wedding rings, heart-shaped eye emojis. What does the word mean? I haven't researched it, so that's, I'm asking you guys for that feedback.
00:10:28
Speaker 3: DM me, get in the comments.
00:10:30
Speaker 2: I don't know what soulmate means to the person who wrote the question, right? But I'll tell you two stories. 2003, NBA All-Star Week. Everybody I know goes to Atlanta, Georgia. I go to Phoenix, Arizona. Ramses jokes on the show. Y'all can't see me on the radio, but I'm looking directly into the camera right now. Ramses says on this show all the time that Q is a model, which is a ridiculous thing to say today. However, once upon a time, I was a published cash a check from a modeling agency or a designer or a brand model. And I got flewed out.
00:11:16
Speaker 3: Dang.
00:11:17
Speaker 1: It's crazy.
00:11:18
Speaker 2: Back before that was a thing, I got flewed out to Arizona to shoot for a catalog for a department store. The young lady who made sure I got flewed out, her aunt was the photographer for the catalog. And I learned later that this girl liked me and it wasn't even about the catalog. She flew me out because she was trying to. Y'all can't see me, but, you know, whatever, wherever your mind went. But the mistake she made is she took me to Arizona State University and because she knew I was a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, Blue Phi, you know, she started introducing me to Sigmas, most notably a young man named Thomas Maltz. Thomas and I met and that threw that girl's whole romantic plan off because I ain't never hang out with her again, really, after that. I mean, a couple, two, three times, kind of by chance, but Had she not done that, I would have spent that entire trip with her, probably.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah.
00:12:20
Speaker 3: And maybe never came back out.
00:12:21
Speaker 2: Here again after that. I don't know where that would have led. But because she introduced me to Thomas, her and I never kicked it. So who knows what could have been of that? Because she was a dope person, smart, beautiful, and flew me out. But I thought for professional reasons. Like I said, I learned later that it was personal. But two days later, when it was time for me to fly back to Detroit, Thomas asked why I was going back to the D. I was working at the mall. I was done with college. He's like, what you got to go back home for? And my mom, I didn't know at the time, was secretly hoping that I wouldn't come back because she's like, what are you going to do here? You're not going to run the streets in Detroit. What are you doing? Thomas gave me either an on-ramp or exit ramp, however you want to view it. He says, listen, man, I got to go to class. But think about it. And I said, look, bro, I came here with 75 bucks. This day three. No, no, no. This day three. So I don't got 75 bucks no more. I got like $ 11. Dang. I can't stay here, dog. I got seven draws because I double pack draws because, you know, it'd be hot. Sometimes you got to read, you know, I got seven underwears and $ 11.
00:13:35
Speaker 3: I got to go back to the D.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: That's a tough spot.
00:13:37
Speaker 3: Motes goes to class, comes back from class, hands me an envelope.
00:13:42
Speaker 2: I'm a little pad. Forgive me if I'm saying this wrong, but either like $ 1, 100 or $ 2, 000 in it. He had a Walmart bag, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant. We used to call them wife beaters. We just call them undershirts now because wife beater is a crazy. That's crazy. Garment name. It was like, listen, bro, if you have to go back to Detroit, I'll shoot you to the airport. Go mob. Pleasure to meet you. But don't think you have to go. Don't go because you think you have to go. Because you don't. Sat the bag down, handed me the envelope and went and sat down. That was 23 years ago and Thomas Motes is the godfather of my children now. So what do you call that person who you met two days ago who changes your life?
00:14:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, Tommy's good people.
00:14:29
Speaker 3: Here you go, bro.
00:14:30
Speaker 2: You don't have to do nothing you thought you had to do before you met me and you just met me here.
00:14:37
Speaker 3: Fast forward.
00:14:38
Speaker 2: That was 2003. Fast forward 2008. I'm... Bartending in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had spent the summer in Arizona and New York City.
00:14:49
Speaker 3: Ironically, modeling.
00:14:51
Speaker 2: I shot for this magazine called Inked. It was a tattoo magazine that was really popular at that time. And I got featured in a story in there. And a young lady named Sarah McCogan, shout out to Sarah, shot me for that. Incredible photographer, incredible person. But she introduced me to this. She took me to an event where I met this young lady named Elizabeth. And then Elizabeth and legendary Damon, two legendary Detroit people. I connected them and it started an entire new ecosystem for me. So fast forward, I'm bartending in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Elizabeth calls me. Hey, are you in Arizona? And I'm like, no, but I can get there. She had a job for me just on the strength of me being from Detroit. I had no experience in the field that she was plugging me into. She was the vice president of Hennessy at the time. Moet Hennessy, USA. I'm sorry. I don't want to shrink her title. Elizabeth was a boss. Devil Wears Prada boss. Yeah. Or Devil Wears Louis boss.
00:15:52
Speaker 5: Okay.
00:15:52
Speaker 2: That makes sense. But I get out here. She gives me this job. And I was kind of set up to fail. Not because she didn't give me a fair chance. But I was pushing cognac in Arizona. And that's just not what they do here. They're tequila, vodka, beer. They're not Hennessy. Because the black population here is not. Statistically viable or something like that.
00:16:12
Speaker 3: Statistically relevant, yeah.
00:16:13
Speaker 2: To where pushing a cognac would lead to success. But I was having a little bit of success and this stranger wrote a letter to Moet Hennessy USA about how fantastic this new field market manager was doing in this market. I had led the first 90 days of launch. I led the entire United States in sales conversions. I was doing incredible. But somebody who didn't know me took it upon themselves to like amplify me and blow me up to this company. My bosses and my boss's boss flew out here to like see it in action. And I was able to excel in that space. That gentleman then became a best friend of mine. My children call him Uncle Ramses. Here we are pushing on 20 years next year. I've been married and divorced. I knew him before I met that woman, married her, divorced her, and then 10 years passed, 12 years passed, and he's still here, as is Thomas, as is Don Burton, as is Jared Butts.
00:17:23
Speaker 1: Shout out, Jared.
00:17:24
Speaker 2: I'm 20, 30 years in with these people. For some of them, proposed to three different people in the time that I've known them. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with this person. three separate times and didn't. And these friends are still here. So do soulmates exist? Depends on what you call a soulmate. If it's what I just described, then absolutely. Clearly they do.
00:17:55
Speaker 1: Man, that was really beautiful.
00:17:57
Speaker 3: Well said, sir.
00:17:57
Speaker 2: Just the truth.
00:18:00
Speaker 3: All right.
00:18:00
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for tuning in to The QR Code. Ramses Jha still on your microphone along with Q Ward. Would Jesus have voted for Trump? We just almost.
00:18:11
Speaker 2: Had our first spit take in the history of our show right now. Okay.
00:18:18
Speaker 3: So, no. Right? Jesus would have got deported, beat up, detained. Wasn't Jesus a brown-skinned Palestinian man? Yeah, man.
00:18:30
Speaker 2: I thought he was.
00:18:31
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:18:31
Speaker 3: What are you talking about?
00:18:32
Speaker 4: No. Jesus.
00:18:34
Speaker 3: Well, no.
00:18:35
Speaker 5: No.
00:18:38
Speaker 3: You're talking about the son.
00:18:40
Speaker 2: Of God, Jesus?
00:18:40
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:18:41
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ. Born to a... Jesus of Nazareth?
00:18:43
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:18:44
Speaker 3: Born to a virgin in Bethlehem? Yeah. No. No.
00:18:49
Speaker 2: First of all, if he was here, he'd have got deported. Sure.
00:18:54
Speaker 3: And or his family would already be dealing with the... You know what I'm saying?
00:19:00
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:19:00
Speaker 2: No, I got you.
00:19:01
Speaker 3: I was way ahead of you. Would Jesus... Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Jesus, Mary, and Jojo? Jesus, Mary, and Jojo?
00:19:14
Speaker 5: No!
00:19:15
Speaker 2: Jesus ain't voting for Donald. Jesus' family, if they were here, would have been round-upped and deported and or bullied and or made to feel unsafe and uncomfortable and, and, and, and. At worst.
00:19:34
Speaker 2: Jesus' family wouldn't have voted at all, feeling like they were given a false choice. Do we vote for the guy who's going to try to kill us or for the guy who's already killing us with the choices that they would have felt like they were making? given? Jesus Christ, however, with far more in the way of knowledge than the rest of us, definitely wouldn't have voted for Donald Trump.
00:20:03
Speaker 3: We got a whole segment here, Doug. Jesus would have organized. No, I'm not good.
00:20:08
Speaker 2: Where's this camera at? Jesus would have organized, mobilized. Jesus would have launched a marketing campaign. The disciples would have been outside.
00:20:20
Speaker 3: Mary would have.
00:20:21
Speaker 2: Been on all the time.
00:20:22
Speaker 3: No. I know we got a segment.
00:20:24
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
00:20:25
Speaker 3: The question though.
00:20:26
Speaker 2: It's crazy, right?
00:20:27
Speaker 3: I wasn't ready. I read the pre-production script and I still wasn't. With Jesus.
00:20:32
Speaker 2: You talking about the three wise men?
00:20:35
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:20:38
Speaker 1: With the star and the stable and the manger.
00:20:40
Speaker 3: So it was Mary. Okay. Nevermind. We'll talk about that later.
00:20:42
Speaker 2: I'm about to act.
00:20:43
Speaker 3: Okay. Okay. So Virgin Mary's son. That's the one. That's the Jesus. All right. So dig this.
00:20:49
Speaker 2: Go do the show, man.
00:20:50
Speaker 3: I'm sorry.
00:20:50
Speaker 4: Dig this. All right.
00:20:51
Speaker 2: Jesus.
00:20:52
Speaker 1: It's funny that you mentioned that too, because Jesus says so much stuff about how to treat the foreigner.
00:20:56
Speaker 3: And I'm so glad you made that connection.
00:20:57
Speaker 4: All right.
00:20:57
Speaker 3: Anyway.
00:20:58
Speaker 1: So there's this creator that I like. This is going to be a long clip. So buckle up. It's going to be a long ride. You're not going to hear my voice or Q's voice. This guy's name is Dan McClellan. And he is a scholar of the Bible and the actual Bible, not the King James Version that you read.
00:21:17
Speaker 2: The original text.
00:21:18
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:21:18
Speaker 1: You got to learn Aramaic, the actual language that Jesus spoke in order to understand, which is the root language of the Arabic language and the Hebrew language and all that.
00:21:28
Speaker 2: Man, these people ain't... Way back.
00:21:30
Speaker 1: So anyway, Dan McClellan takes some audio from Charlie Kirk. And you're going to love it. So without further ado, would Jesus have voted for Trump?
00:21:43
Speaker 2: Let's go.
00:21:43
Speaker 1: Do you think Jesus would have voted for Trump?
00:21:51
Speaker 3: Do I think Jesus? All right, let's see it.
00:21:55
Speaker 5: First of all, Jesus intentionally didn't vote and did not care about the Roman guard. You remember he said, pay unto Caesar what is Caesar, render unto God what is God.
00:22:02
Speaker 4: So the render unto Caesar discourse doesn't have anything to do with demonstrating Jesus didn't care about the Roman government. But to insist that Jesus intentionally didn't vote would require that some process comparable to voting was available to Jesus in first century CE Galilee or Judea, and no such process was available to Jesus. So the notion he intentionally didn't vote is laughable on its very face.
00:22:33
Speaker 3: I think Jesus would love some of the stuff that Trump is doing. It's a silly question, but I'm just, you know. No, I mean, fine. It's like, what did Jesus teach us? Jesus says, don't touch children.
00:22:41
Speaker 5: Okay, so he would love the fact that Donald Trump repealed Roe versus Wade. He would love the fact that child sex trafficking is being focused on in this current government.
00:22:49
Speaker 4: So neither of those things is true because Trump's approach to abortion and to child sex trafficking are not part of any kind of sincere attempt to actually efficiently or effectively mitigate the rate of either.
00:23:04
Speaker 3: They are tokens.
00:23:06
Speaker 4: They are propaganda in order to try to win the culture wars because Trump's policies actually don't really significantly improve either. When it comes to abortion, if MAGO were concerned with reducing the rate at which women seek out abortions, they would significantly increase access to comprehensive sex education, to contraception, to women's health care. That would... more efficiently and effectively reduce the rate of abortion in our nation far more than just criminalizing it. But criminalizing it scratches the right-wing authoritarian itch. So that's what they're doing. And similar things are true of their approach to child sex trafficking. A lot of this is making token attempts to try to improve things, and some of the policies have actually improved things, but others have made things worse. For instance, a lot of people would argue that the sex trafficking propaganda is really a pretext for cracking down on immigration. And a lot of advocacy groups have pointed out that Trump's approach to addressing child sex trafficking actually makes things worse because, for instance, a lot of victims who are not citizens or even some who are. will not cooperate because they're scared of a government they know might attack them next, might deport them, might separate them from their family, might send them out of the country, might send them to a gulag somewhere where nobody knows where they are. Because Trump's approach to immigration is taking priority over any actual concern for mitigating child sex trafficking. So MAGA's approach to abortion and child sex trafficking are really about identity markers in the culture wars. They're not actually prioritizing mitigating the rate of either. They're prioritizing the leveraging of that identity marker to serve the interests of their right-wing authoritarian and social dominance orientation identity politics. And the Jesus of the Gospels says, would see right through that, just like anyone with the capacity for critical thought today can see right through that propaganda. So no, Jesus would not love that. Jesus would actually be quite opposed to Trump's Machiavellian approach to using immigration as a rhetorical bludgeon, as a wedge in order to try to increase their access to power and resources.
00:25:44
Speaker 5: Jesus Christ said a lot of things such as, you know, sin no more and things such as love your neighbor are things that we should embody in every single one of our public policy decisions.
00:25:53
Speaker 4: Which is what makes it so absolutely laughable to actually suggest that Jesus would vote for an unrepentant rapist and serial sexual predator and all around mendacious and avaricious moron who will gladly demonize and brutalize and deport neighbors, including children, if that helps him grab onto a little bit more power. Jesus directly excoriates multiple times across the Gospels people who try to leverage public displays of piety and faithfulness in an effort to be seen of others, in an effort to gain their reward in this life. In other words, in an effort to advance their own personal interests. And that's precisely what Donald Trump and MAGA are doing.
00:26:47
Speaker 2: And again.
00:26:49
Speaker 4: The Jesus of the Gospels would be able to see right through that, just like people today with a capacity for critical thought can see right through that. So, no, if we took Jesus from the early first century C.E. and transferred him to today and taught him a language that would allow him to understand what's going on in the United States and taught him world history up till now and taught him U.S. history today, and taught him about the structures of power that are in play today, there's no way the Jesus of the Gospels would ever even think about voting for someone like Donald Trump.
00:27:30
Speaker 1: Well, the rest of that goes on to show Charlie Kirk saying that Jesus wouldn't have voted and throwing in the towel. Um, so that was a bit of a cop out, but you know, he tried his best. He tried it and shout out to Dan McClellan for always coming through in the clutch. He's one of my favorite creators. Be sure to check him out. Uh, but I guess, uh, Q said it best. There's no way Jesus would have voted for Trump. So I guess that's that, right?
00:27:58
Speaker 2: It's crazy.
00:28:00
Speaker 1: You have been listening to The QR Code. Today's show was produced by Chris Thompson and Dan Pavlich. If you have some thoughts you'd like to share, visit CivicCypher.com to ask a question, share some encouragement, or support the show. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. Today's episode includes a conversation about whether or not you believe in soulmates. Would Jesus have voted for Trump? And the date on your food means almost nothing. As always... For anything you might miss or may have missed, download the full episode at CivicCypher.com. That's C-I-V-I-C-C-I-P-H-E-R dot com, BINews.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. For our editorial content covering hip-hop culture, visit hiphopweeklymagazine.com. Also, be sure to check us out on all social media at CivicCypher. Again, C-I-V-I-C-C-I-P-H-E-R. I'm your host, Ramses Jha, on all social media. And you can find Q at IMQWard on all platforms as well. And be sure to keep it right here because we'll be back to share our news with our voice from our perspective right here on The QR Code.
