Two Black Men, Ramses Ja and Quinton Ward, have trademarked “White Lives Matter” so we don’t have to worry about it getting in the hands of fools like Ye again.
As Newsonyx previously reported, Kanye West, whose legal name is Ye, has received much backlash for wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt at his YZY SZN 9 fashion show during Paris Fashion Week in October.
— . (@smallzstill) October 3, 2022
Ye recently attacked Black fashion editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson for accepting the invite to his show and expressing her trauma of seeing the “white lives matter” shirts.
Now, it seems like the shirts will never be able to be sold without explicit permission from two Black men. The two can sue by writing cease and desist letters to people selling the shirts or those profiting from the phrase.
According to Capital B News, the trademark was transferred to Ja and Ward’s Civic Cipher LLC in September.
Ja told Capital B, “We know that phrases like ‘White Lives Matter,’ ‘All Lives Matter,’ and ‘Blue Lives Matter’ continue to cause harm and to dilute the narrative that was intended to be established by Black Lives Matter. Those phrases are all piggybacking off of Black people’s creativity and efforts, so we’re all for helping to use this as a measure to allow Black people to retain a little bit of ownership.”
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According to their website, Civic Cipher is a “nationally syndicated radio show and podcast hosted by Ramses Ja and Q. Ward and executive produced by Maggie B. Knowin.”
The broadcast was founded in 2020 as a response to “the violent and egregious murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.” The broadcast empowers Black and Brown voices and is a call to action to ignite change.
In an interview with ABC, the duo agreed that they “accepted this responsibility” of taking ownership of the phrase to guard it from being put in the wrong hands.
See the full interview below:
