#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 10.23: Repubs storm impeachment deposition; SCOTUS tosses MI map ruling; Buttigieg & Black voters

Episode Date: October 28, 2019

10.23.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Republicans storm impeachment deposition; SCOTUS tosses Michigan gerrymandering ruling; Pete Buttigieg has a Black voter problem; New Jersey group is providing low cost access to capital to African American small businesses; October is domestic violence awareness month; 3-year-old lost in Alabama has been found. - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Life Luxe Jazz Life Luxe Jazz is the experience of a lifetime, delivering top-notch music in an upscale destination. The weekend-long event is held at the Omnia Dayclub Los Cabos, which is nestled on the Sea of Cortez in the celebrity playground of Los Cabos, Mexico. For more information visit the website at lifeluxejazz.com. Can't make it to Los Cabos for the Life Luxe Jazz Fest? Get your live stream pass at https://gfntv.com/ #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Ebony Foundation | Home by the Holiday Home by the Holiday aims to reunite Black and Latino families separated by bail, while challenging racial injustice and mass incarceration. For more info visit https://www.homebytheholiday.com/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Hey, folks, today is Wednesday, October 23rd, 2019. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, Republicans stormed the deposition room today where the House Intelligence Committee planned to interview Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Laura Cooper. They were delayed five hours, but they did do so. Why were Republicans so willing to break the law recording what took place in that room?

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the lower court's ruling that called for the redrawing of several Michigan congressional and legislative districts ahead of the 2020 election. We'll tell you what that means. Pete Buttigieg is having difficulties gaining traction with African-Americans.

A South Carolina focus group gives a New Jersey group is providing low cost access to African-American small business owners. We'll tell you what to note, your share. And domestic violence comes in many forms. It's not just about couples. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We'll talk about what that means.

Also, the Alabama three-year-old we told you about yesterday has been found. We'll give you those details and also update you. The Phoenix police officer pulled a gun on a family over a baby doll stolen out of the store. And the Maryland NAACP is calling for an investigation into an arrest in Prince George's County. Folks, it's time to bring the funk

on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best believe he's knowing.

Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. With some go-go-royal. It's rolling, Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know. He's rolling, Martin.

Martin. Martin. About two dozen House Republicans stormed a closed-door deposition today in a secure area to complain about the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry. Here they are explaining why they acted like thugs. I'm gathering... Well, folks, we have some issues with our video playback. Obviously, this was a political stunt. The conservative lawmakers, led by Republican Congressman Matt Goetz of Florida,

barged into the deposition and demanded they be allowed to see the closed-door proceedings where members of three committees plan to interview Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Laura Cooper as part of the impeachment probe into Donald Trump. Lots of arguing, bickering back and forth, Democrats shouting at Republicans. And one Republican lawmaker actually recorded what took place in that room, even though recording devices are not allowed in that room and then posted it on social media. Let's go to our panel. Lawn Victoria Burke, NNPA. Also, Mustafa Santiago Ali, vice president, environmental justice and climate and community realization, the National Wildlife Federation, Dr. Cleo Monago, political analyst.

Lauren, I'll start with you. You, of course, cover Capitol Hill. The games Republicans are playing here are clear. They don't want, they're trying to scuttle these significant witnesses. Yesterday, Donald Trump tried to distract us by throwing out lynching in one of his tweets. We didn't take the bait. And now, of course, you have these shenanigans today. At the end of the day, what they do not like is the fact that there are Republicans who are testifying, who are not trying to fall on their sword for

Donald Trump because they're not trying to go to jail. Right. And likely what was going on here is, of course, Laura Cooper had something to say was extremely damaging to the president of the United States. And as you saw, Matt Gaetz and the rest of these people decided to do something that, interestingly enough, is not against the law for these members. Of course, Congress exempts itself from most laws anyway. It's against a oath that the members take when they go into a SCIF, which is a secure area. So there's not a whole lot of recourse that Speaker Pelosi can undertake. I believe she was at her brother's funeral today, so I think she was not there. Interestingly enough, they were going to do this last week,

and their plan to do it last week was delayed by the death of Elijah Cummings. It happened the morning that they were on the day that they were going to do this. Anyway, obviously a stunt, obviously something that they want to divert. I mean, their whole PR game is always about deflection. It is always about changing the topic. And so when you look at the footage from this of people, same usual suspects, Mo Brooks, Louie Gohmert, Andy Biggs, these are the biggest protectors of the president. These are the people who are probably hearing from their constituents that this is the greatest

thing in the world. And so they'll continue to do this. Their problem is going to be at some point, it's not just going to be the sergeant at arms that has to come into the room and tell or Val Demings, you know, Congresswoman Demings, who was a police chief in Florida, telling them that they're crazy to get and get out. At some point, they are going to be violating the law because they will be obstructing the investigation of the House. But they're a little stunt today, which, of course, was, I'm sure, well thought out. They thought about what the ramifications were. They knew that it was a relatively minor violation of House rules. Benny Thompson, who's the chair of Homeland Security,

already sent out a letter saying that there needs to be a reminder to members about security. But I don't think it's a violation of law. But I would, of course, no one is going to put it past these people to violate the law in the process of this investigation. It's not an issue, Mustafa, necessarily violating the law. The problem here is that what you're dealing with with Republicans is that they do not want people to actually know what took place. Yesterday, you had the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, of course, I'm sorry, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who testified there was indeed a quid pro quo. Republicans on the Senate side were running away from cameras, not wanting to address this issue. Now, of course, you have the State Department official who has refused to follow

the Trump administration. They, of course, told them, hey, do you ignore subpoenas? These folks are saying, damn that. I'm not going to sit here and get my behind the ringer, but this guy is going to throw me under the bus anyway. And they, Republicans, do not want the American people to actually know what happened because they are scared. Donald Trump is scared. You look at his tweets.

They know he screwed up. Mick Mulvaney went out there in front of the cameras and admitted a quid pro quo. They tried to walk it back. Nah, player, too late. And this is what these cats don't like. Right. The Republicans are shook.

There's no other way to kind of say it because they know. I mean, it's just amazing the amount of folks who are standing up doing the right thing and testifying. And as they continue to testify, as they continue to put a spotlight on these injustices that the administration has done, that the president has done, then they know that the American folks are going to start to pay more attention. And then that is going to lead more people to get behind the impeachment drive that's going on. So there is a process that's going on. And, you know, they're finding themselves in an extremely difficult position. And they're going to be held accountable also for not doing the right thing

and helping the American people to see the fullness of what truly has gone on. Cleo, it's fairly laughable to see Republicans falling over themselves, doing their best not to try to scuttle what's going on because they know this guy has screwed up. They know the BS. We had to deal with Devin Nunes and all his drama, what Gates and all these fools are doing. And then you got Senator Tim Scott and Senator Lindsey Graham trying to say, oh yeah, We have to deal with Devin Nunes and all his drama. What Gates and all these fools are doing, and then you got Senator Tim Scott and Senator Lindsey Graham trying to say, oh, yeah, this is a witch hunt or whatever. I mean, they will cover up anything this guy does in order to hold on to power.

No morals, no values, no ethics. Well, what we're witnessing is desperation. I mean, they hope, I think, that Trump will not do nothing else problematic. He continues to do something else problematic. That's why the Republican Party right now is splintered between people who are on his side, as you mentioned, not wanting to fall on the sword for him anymore. So I'm just wondering how it's going to all turn out. And I don't mean just the impeachment process, but what are American citizens going to do? What are Republicans going to do when they have this desperate, dysfunctional mess and this person who's breaking laws and doing

what's essentially treason? I want to know what the public is going to do because there's still people in Trump's corner. He even has people who qualify as black saying that he's a wonderful person and support him. So what's going to be interesting to me is to see how this all falls out because they're desperate and they caved in there and broke some minor laws to distract. But as we all know, ultimately, it's not going to work. The distractions are not going to continue to work. Somehow they're going to have to face the music. And then what's going to happen with Republicans? What are they going to do?

That's what I want to know. And I want to also, I can't wait to find out when the presidential candidacy, you know, when the run occurs, because are we going to vote for Warren, who's at the top of the list, supposedly, a woman, a white woman, or for Trump? Well, first of all, we're a long way from even voting. Bottom line here is what they are scared of, they are scared of actual testimony where individuals are corroborating. And then what they're afraid of is this other guy

who is committing perjury and lying in his testimony. So it's real interesting to see what happens. They're going to keep playing games but the bottom line is, yep, as Mustafa said, they are shook. Well, their fear is about to get realized because there's going to be a vote in the House and there's going to be an impeachment trial in the Senate.

So, I mean, I don't, this idea that they're going to block something, they're not in the majority. Actually, I think what they're that they're going to block something, they're not in the majority. Actually, I think what they're doing is, they're having more votes on the Democratic side with this nonsense. Which is why they're desperate. And what they're afraid of.

They're afraid of the testimony being actually revealed and people actually hearing what folks are saying and then it's like, okay, do you want to lie right or do you want to tell the truth and that's what we're actually going to see then you have to defend it well right well that's that's my point but we don't well we know he's gonna lie so i mean he'll lie about a lie about a lie and that's what donald trump all he does that's why i would say hashtag

trump lies matter all right folks let's go to this Michigan Supreme Court case. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court vacated an order from three U.S. federal judges that found the state's last process to change with gerrymandering. They said it benefited Republicans and violated the voters' constitutional rights. Well, you've got to remember, the Supreme Court previously ruled that they could not determine what was political gerrymandering. And so they basically threw this decision out. The ruling also ordered special state Senate elections in 2020 by the federal court. The question now is what happens to vote for voters in Michigan?

LaVor Barnes is chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party. She joins us right now. Ms. Barnes, clearly the Supreme Court is allowing political gerrymandering to go on. But we know from the North Carolina case where they have ruled in favor of supporting racial gerrymandering, meaning that's not allowed. Is there a focus now that these decisions have been changed by the Supreme Court where folks are going to sue on behalf of racial gerrymandering and not political gerrymandering? I think folks should sue, because if you look at the way that this court has made this decision, they've basically abdicated their responsibility as the highest

court in the land to make a decision here, which I think is a ridiculous mistake and that they should weigh in. But here in Michigan, we're going to redraw our lines in 2022 with a citizen panel anyway because our voters decided that they didn't trust politicians to draw these lines anymore and changed that law by referendum in 2018. So we will fix this problem ourselves, but we shouldn't have to. Well, and speaking of that, when the voters actually voted on that referendum, Republicans in the legislature still tried to change it. Yes, they did. This is what they do, right? They try to get in here and undo the will of the people over and over again. This is what they do with gerrymandering. This is what they do with anything that we as the citizens decide we believe is the right thing to do and they don't like, anything that threatens their power hold, anything that threatens their hold on government

and all of its issues, they will fight hard to take back from us. And that's what they've tried to do here in Michigan. You know, they've got their folks, you know, they've got their plan for how they think they're going to, A, continue to control the government and, B, frankly, line their pockets and the pockets of their supporters with with the government programs that they fund. Right. Pretend like they don't do corporate welfare, but they do. And the way they keep that power is to keep the people from speaking up and doing the work that they know that they think that they have chosen their elected officials to do. You talked about that voter initiative. Obviously, that's 2022, but next year is the presidential election,

and Republicans are desperate to hold onto Michigan, which Donald Trump won in 2016. Yes, they are desperate. They're not gonna hold onto Michigan. We've put together a terrific ground game. After 2016, we recognized that the way we win this thing is to work year-round, not show up in people's communities and in their churches in September of the election year,

but to be there all the time. So the Democrats have been on the ground here in Michigan since 2017, and we haven't stopped working. And we're going to deliver Michigan for whoever the Democratic nominee is. But that doesn't mean the Republicans aren't going to do anything and everything they can to try to suppress our vote. They'll show up in our communities and try to tell our, you've seen this stuff, where they try to tell us the election day is a different day, why they try to tell us

you can't vote if you've got the outstanding warrants. They try to, all that stuff. We're prepared. We've got a team of folks on the ground who are prepared to combat all of that because we know they're coming for us. All right, LaVor Barnes, we surely appreciate it. Thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure. Thanks for having me on. All right, letVar Barnes, we surely appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us. My pleasure. Thanks for having me on. All right. Let's go to Mustafa first. Mustafa, to her point, Supreme Court advocating the responsibilities.

Again, this was a case that came out of Wisconsin where Republicans used these algorithms to really just grab, move different people around. And race was involved. There was a prominent Republican who died, Tom Hoffler, who they were seeking him out. And it was all designed to guarantee them control of state legislatures. We saw what is now the key here, though, is, and this is the problem, of course, because it comes to statewide voting, that if you control the state Supreme Court, then it can change like what happened in North Carolina

and Pennsylvania, but if you use political gerrymandering, guess what, you'll never be able to overturn those decisions. That's why the Supreme Court's decision was so foul. Without a doubt. I mean, and it plays into, as, you know, folks were just saying, you know, it's about power, it's I mean, and it plays into, as folks were just saying, you know, it's about power. It's about resources. And it's about, you know, our vote evidently is super important because they keep trying to manipulate it. They keep trying to do

everything they can to stop people from doing it. And it also plays into the lower courts as well. You know, who's going to be sitting and getting these positions there and continuing this cycle over and over and over again for decades. So, you know, I'm always curious why the Supreme Court sometimes kicks things back and doesn't live up to the responsibility of that, you know, that respective position. And, you know, when they do these types of things,

they continue to have a role, a culpability role, if you know, when they do these types of things, they continue to have a role, a culpability role, if you will, in, you know, these actions that continue to play out across the country that are stopping folks from actually being able to utilize their of the similar things that Michigan is doing by really getting engaged early in the process. But the reality of the situation is, is that all states are not going to do that. So there's still going to be these disproportionate impacts that are happening. Lauren, I think what is key here are these ballot initiatives and progressives are finally waking the hell up in doing what Republicans did in California and Michigan and Washington state when it came to affirmative action, take it to the will of the voters. And we've seen ballot initiatives in Utah. We've seen it in the Dakotas.

We've seen it now in Michigan. We saw it with Amendment 4 in Florida because this is how you're able to counter this political gerrymandering. Yep. That's going to be the only way you're going to counter it with John Roberts sitting there. This is the Roberts court that somehow decided that the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional. Here they are with this. I mean, it is going to get back to local power, whether it's state or even more local than that. What I think about is that at the end of the day, obviously it's about

power and control. It's always about power and control. But the Roberts Court is, this is really a situation that we keep talking about again and again. And really I think, what I think about is that the numbers for these Republicans at some point, they're just going to get overtaken. You know, they don't, they realize that, which is why they play these numbers games. But at some point, the numbers overtake you, particularly in places like Texas and California, but other states as well. And we're going to get there. At some point, we are going to get there. Cleo, what we're dealing with here,

again, we're dealing with folks. This is all about power. And this is, I know people out there watching keep saying, why do you keep harping on these federal judges? This is what we're talking about. Republicans understand that the Supreme Court is a potent weapon. They know that the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of all laws. And so for Republicans, they absolutely, they don't want just a 5-4 majority. They want 6-3. They want to re-elect Donald Trump,

hoping that Ruth Bader Ginsburg gets sick or dies or retires. And I'm being real clear, they do, because they want 6-3. They want to appoint a 38-year-old judge or a 40-year-old judge to guarantee they're going to have that seat for the next 40 years. And that's why, and I don't care what any of these people say, that's why I still think it was stupid and asinine for Barack Obama, President Obama, to appoint Merrick Garland. I said then, I still believe it. He should have appointed a black woman. He should have set up this antagonist and protagonist fight of these old white men denying this historic appointment of a black woman. I believe it would have had an impact on the 2016 election, even with the horrible campaign Hillary Clinton ran,

even with James Comey and that damn letter, even with the shenanigans of Trump and the Russians. But Democrats play nice. Let's play fair. Republicans don't give a damn about that. It's about power. And we better understand that the Supreme Court and the entire federal judiciary will be on the ballot come next November. Well, you know, I'm very psychological around these kind of issues. And my concern is that the masses, the alleged progressive people, black people, a lot of us don't realize how serious this is and don't realize the power in our hands. You know, the local power we have to affect elections. We're very laid back in the midst of the devil doing all kinds of crazy stuff to keep power. And the Supreme Court is clearly biased in the case that you mentioned to start this story. But I just want to see how it rolls out because what's his name, the president? What's his name? Donald Trump. Donald Trump has been Donald Trump all this time

before he became president. So my point is that I think that there's a, I'm talking about black people now. I'm talking about black people now, I'm talking about black people in Congress and black people who can make decisions. I was talking about this earlier in the green room. There's a white accommodationist tendency that we have where we are fearful of challenging white power. And we're, I'm talking about black folks now

and people in a position to actually challenge these things. We second think of the whole idea of stepping up and demanding justice and demanding things be right in terms of justice. And as long as we are like that, not only people like who are in Congress, but everyday black folks who won't vote. Filling some, in my opinion, unconscious fear of challenging white supremacy and fear of backlash. We got to talk about that issue, Roland, because I really believe based on interviews that I've had with people that we are fearful of white backlash.

So we back off and they wind up doing this kind of bullying that they did earlier today on the Hill. And we back off. It's worked. Look, we better we better understand this court issue is real and when you're talking about discrimination of lawsuits when you're talking about age when you talk about age discrimination when you talk about sex when you talk about race when you talk about environmental justice issues when you talk about environmental racism we talk about everything that goes through the court system yo you file a federal lawsuit you're going to be dealing with like right now,

Trump has appointed more than 150 judges. That's real. And a lot of people have no business being on the federal bench because they want folks who are far right. And I'm just telling everybody right now, okay? You understand what the Republicans want, okay? This is not this, oh, my goodness, you want us to vote Democrat? No, I want your ass to vote for your issues. I want you to vote and understand that who makes rulings on issues

like criminal justice, federal courts, who makes rulings when it comes to voter suppression, voter disenfranchisement, federal courts. Who makes decisions when it comes to all these different laws out here dealing with the environment, dealing with climate? Federal courts, Republicans know this, and they want black folks, and they want other people to be sleepy and not pay attention. Trust me, right? It's absolutely focused on the federal courts because they are still angry with Brown v. Board of Education 1 and 2. They're angry that those federal judges were the ones who actually made desegregation possible. They're angry that the courts, Thurgood Marshall, NAACP, Legal Defense and Education Fund, used the power of the federal courts to bring down Jim Crow and change America.

And that's why they created British Fashion. And that's why the Mellons created, funded all these different groups. That's why the Federalist Society was created. All of these right-wing groups were created because they could not stand the fact that the courts affirmed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, and that's why they want to control the courts for the next half of a century.

We better pay attention. All right, folks, I got to go to a break. When we come back, we'll continue with more of Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered? All right, folks. Sorry about that. Having some playback issues here.

So let's talk about home for the holidays. It's almost that time. The holiday season is, of course, a lot of our favorite time of the year. But whether you celebrate Thanksgiving, Ramadan, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or New Year's, this is when you think about spending time with the people you love the most. This is also the time to count your blessings and support those less fortunate and look at how you can have an impact on their lives. Well, I have the perfect opportunity for you to be a holiday hero and have a major impact on other families. Here's the deal.

Right now, hundreds of thousands of Americans are sitting in jail without being convicted of a crime. Why? Because they lack the financial resources to pay their bail. Now, think about it. If you're arrested for any minor offense, you'll be taken directly to jail. You don't have money, whether it's a few hundred or thousands. You will stay there until a court date is scheduled. That could mean days, weeks, or even months

as a result of this crazy criminal justice system. America's bail system, folks, is broken and has created a two-tier system of justice, one for the haves and one for the have-nots. Freedom should be free, and that's why the Ebony Foundation is partnered with the Bail Project and is sponsoring the Home by the Holiday campaign. With your help, the goal is to bail out

1,000 people by New Year's Day. How's that for a holiday gift? A donation from you today could change someone's life tomorrow. Here's why it's critical. People of color represent 50 to 90% of the jail population across the country. Hmm. can change someone's life tomorrow. Here's why it's critical. People of color represent 50 to 90% of the jail population across the country.

Hmm. When they stayed in jail, 90% of the people with misdemeanors ended up pleading guilty. However, when bail was paid, 50% of the cases were dismissed and less than 2% received a jail sentence. In essence, people are just trying to get out of jail,

and they're saying, look, I'll take any deal. Folks, sometimes justice needs just us to join the fight. Be a holiday hero and donate $25, $50, or more to help the Ebony Foundation bring our brothers and sisters home by the holidays. To donate, go to homebytheholiday.com, homebytheholiday.com. You see the website right there, homebytheholiday.com.

All right, folks, let's talk about this story that came out of South Carolina that Pete Buttigieg's campaign says they had nothing to do with leaking this story, but it details why he, for some reason, is not getting black support. An internal focus group conducted by Buttigieg's presidential campaign this summer reveals a possible reason they say some white survivors are struggling. According to this report,

some see sexuality as a problem. While that report stated that Buttigieg's sexuality was not a disqualifier for these black voters. Some of the focus group participants questioned why Buttigieg even brings it up. One of the people who responded, a black male, said that he's living with a husband. Now, the Buttigieg campaign said they had nothing to do with this story leaking. Cleo, do you believe that black people are not supporting Pete Buttigieg? He's polling at 0% among black voters because of the state. Well, first of all, a lot of people are focusing on African Americans because they want the African American vote. We didn't hear what happened in the Asian group, the Latino group, and the other groups.

And black people are not the only people that have people among them who have issues with same-gendered living people or gay-identified people. So that bothers me that a new stereotype is being reinforced again regarding how black people see this issue. But I do think that black people tend to want to be conservative about their business, their personal business, and are'm not interested always in having people's personal business on front street, regardless of sexuality. But again, my concern is that black people are being painted as particularly homosexual. I mean, there's other people who are running for president on a Democratic ticket who don't have black support

either. And their sexuality is not necessarily the same as his sexuality. So I think somebody's looking for an angle in which black people don't support him. That's going to make black people bad. And I think that's why Buttigieg's camp is saying, we didn't leak it, we didn't leak it, we didn't leak it, because they don't want to be accused of anything. But people know how to keep their business to themselves if they decide to, from my perspective, if they work hard on vetting things. But this is an interesting thing. Like I said before, there's all kinds of people. Like, I know an Asian person whose family said,

if you don't stop that homosexual stuff, you're going to be just taken out of the wheel. And I've seen all kinds of things happen in all kinds of communities regarding family and community reaction to homosexuality. But here we go again, trying to paint black people as particularly troubled by this issue. So that concerns me.

Lauren, what do you... Lauren, you agree with Cleo? I think Pete Buttigieg is an average candidate. He's a mayor of a very small city in this country that only has 100,000 people. And he's at 6% in the polls. He's like at number four or five with Kamala Harris. And they need attention, and they'll do anything to get it.

And I don't think this is the reason he's failing. I think he's failing because he's failing. Why would some 37-year-old guy running for president be the guy that everybody's picking? It isn't going to happen. We know it's not going to happen. It's going to be one of the people, one of the first three people on top. And so he has a very good comms person. He's been very good at getting him on the cover of magazines, and he's the it boy and all that, but I don't think it's this. I think he's just... He's an also-ran candidate who's running for the first time for president. I think there's an interesting diversion.

You know, it's always interesting when black voters are supposed to fix everybody's problems. How about him fixing the problem that he had in South Bend with the police that everybody's aware of that he's never been able to explain, although he has been candid in his shortcomings about it. But that's probably got a little bit more to do with his problem with black voters than anything else.

I would think that black women, who are the most important base voter group in the Democratic Party, actually would be partial to a gay guy running for president. I don't understand why that would be an issue for black women. I don't know too many black female friends of mine who don't have a really good gay male friend.

You know what I mean? So I'm just like, so why is that not coming up in this? But like I said, he has a good comms person, so that's why this is up. If you want votes in the South, you've got to show up in the South. So that means you're going to have to be, you know, spending significant amounts of time there. You know, there are events that I. So that means you're going to be, you know, spending significant amounts of time there. You know, there are events that I know of that he's been invited to and that he hasn't committed to.

Also, you know, he doesn't have name recognition yet. So, I mean, let's let's look at it if it was any candidate. So if you don't have name recognition, like somebody like Biden, who's been getting some some pre votes, if you want to label it that, just because people know who he is, then you've got to do some work in that space. If you don't have a body of work that's going to attract people, then you've got some work you've got to do. If you don't have foreign policy experience based upon, you know, as a mayor, then you've got some work to do to garner more people. And if you have a Douglas plan, then that Douglas plan should also be playing out in the city where you come from, showing how real change can actually happen.

So I think that there are opportunities for Mayor Pete to grow the number of folks who might support him. But there's a lot of work that has to happen in that space. And you've got to make some decisions around the priorities that you're setting. I think this decision that is being made... Also, let's just be real clear. What the hell is Tulsi Gabbard polling at? One percent, something like that.

But see, Buttigieg, you know, six percent. No, no, no, no. Everybody wants to make a big deal. Everybody wants to make a deal about these candidates. Tulsi Gabbard is polling at... Hold on, hold on. Tulsi Gabbard is polling at 1% overall. She probably has zero among black people. I mean, I mean, this whole, this whole, and so here's the thing. Yes, this, you have folks, Obama's former Bahamian ambassador, why is it escaping me? Her dad, of course, had a documentary, The Black Godfather.

Why is it escaping me? Ava, his daughter, supporting her. The former Obama folks, a number of ambassadors were supporting Buttigieg. But I think Mustafa hit it on the head. First of all, this campaign is top loaded, OK? Between Biden, Warren, Sanders, Harris, Booker. Look, it ain't enough black votes to go around. Well, it's that, but let's be real. And these are national polls.

Buttigieg is overrated. We talk about him as if he's a top level candidate at 6%. I mean, I know it's a national poll, but I don't care if he wins. This is the other silly thing. He'll probably, you know, shock the world and win Iowa. That doesn't matter. I mean, Ted Cruz won Iowa. So we, you know, people who are at 6% do not become president of the United States.

So this whole thing is, to me, a PR attempt for him to get attention, which they're very good at. It's a bad PR attempt. You want to throw black people under the bus and imply that black folks are particularly homophobic to get black votes? That's a bizarre strategy. I don't think it's going to work out well for him. You got to do the work.

You got to do the work. Everybody wants to be a superstar. Everybody wants to have the spotlight. Do the work. Beto. Yeah. Well, again, it's a long way before they vote. Guess what?

You got to get going. All right, folks, this year we saw an increase in the confidence that African-American business owners have in the state of small business, given the current political climate, according to a recent study. Lack of access to capital and cash flow, the biggest challenge for African-American small business owners and potential startups. The African-American Chamber of Fund founded earlier this year with an initial investment of $10 million by world business lenders. They've arranged to make that money available in initial loans for African-American Chamber of Commerce members. Joining me with the details are Archbishop David Billings III, Fund Vice chair for the African-American Chamber Fund, and Derek Chambers, executive director.

All right, folks, first of all, we're talking about, obviously, $10 million. African-American Chamber Fund, okay, is that to Black Chamber Inc., Black Chamber of Commerce, or is this a separate entity? Say that again. I said this African Chamber of Commerce. Is it a separate entity, or is it tied to an existing group like the U.S. Black Chamber, Inc., or some other black business group? It's a separate entity unto itself. It will partner with people that it can get money from, but it's a

separate entity. It has its own board and its own officers. Okay. And then, so, so, this initial investment, 10 million bucks from World Business Lenders. What is World Business Lenders? World Business Lenders is a company out of New Jersey that's been actually doing work with the local community across the United States and even across the world. The head of that organization Doug Nades has offered to give the Afro-American Chamber Fund $10 million to start with, and of course we accepted that. He's a part of the fund board of directors, and we're doing it deliberately because we want to help minority entrepreneurs in the community that's being turned away

by the institutional banks. Let me ask you this question, okay? This is the African American Chamber Fund. Are you helping minority companies or black companies? Black companies mainly, but we're not turning away minorities. So I'm curious there, though, because when we look at what's happening with black businesses in this country, we have 2.6 million black-owned businesses. And also, first of all, Derek, I want to target this to you. There are 2.6 million black-owned businesses in America. 2.5 million of those have one employee. They're doing an average revenue of around $54,000. Now, several years ago, we had 1.9 million black-owned businesses with 1.8 million having one employee. They were doing an average revenue of $110,000. So, Derek, why not make it specific

to African-American businesses? Yes, well, you know, and that's a great point. And to kind of go off of what Archbishop Billings was talking about, you know, our initiative really was built out of really joining with the African American Chambers of Commerce around the country and forming these affiliations to help one to help us understand the community understand some of those statistics that you just pointed out and to to start a process of transparency and disclosure to make the low-cost capital accessible. And so how will this work? If you're a company out there and you're interested, how do you apply? How do they reach you?

What's the process? So the process really is, as I mentioned, we form alliances or affiliations with chambers of commerce. For example, we have an affiliation with the African-American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey and Trenton. Recently we formed affiliation with the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce. So basically we advocate that the members of those chambers that we're working hand in hand with the change with those particular chambers of commerce that way the chambers help us identify and create a process to where their members are have access to capital. So we start the conversation right there but we started working with those chambers of commerce so that we understand the community and make sure that we're addressing the needs adequately.

Bishop, what is the, is there a limit in terms of the size of the business, in terms of revenue or employees? Who can actually apply for this capital? And is there a limit on how much capital? And what is it, a quarter of a million? Five hundred thousand? A million? Two million? What is it? We're trying to start. We've probably started loans at about twenty thousand going up to I guess two million. But yes we are we are targeting. And we don't put a number on the employees or the how many people are working there as long as they've got a business and they're thriving in the community or want to thrive or want their business to grow, then we're interested in giving them funds. One of the things that I think is very important is that the institutional banks today, which are turning down the majority of Afro-American and minority companies, they will never be able to get off the ground or continue their business or interested in trying to make sure that they get capital to get ahead. They cannot grow a business.

You know it, Roland, as well as anyone else. If you don't have any capital, you can't grow a business. You can't grow anything here in the United States or any place else without capital. And of course, we can have creative minds, which we have, and we have avenues, but we don't have capital to keep those things going. Derek, will this be loans? Will this be grants? And if it's loans, what's the interest rate? What's the payback? Yes, it's definitely a loan process. So we really start the conversation around a particular situation. So you look at the interest rates, we look at someone's background. For example, in the past, there's been difficulties in our community with people going into some of know, some of the traditional type modes and having pushback. So we really start the conversation with, you know, identifying what their situation is. And we really cater to their given situation, situation, sorry, and really try

to start the process there. And that will determine, you know, what we look like in terms of interest rate. All right, Dan. How can folks get more information? Where do they go? They can go to African American Chamber Fund, which is aachamberfund.com. That will lead them to the process. And then obviously they'll see information on our board and they'll see information on me as executive director.

But that's how they start the process, aachamberfund.com. All right, then. Well, Bishop, we certainly appreciate you joining us. Derek, we thank you as well. Thank you. One of the things I want to throw in I think is important, that the Afro-American Chamber Fund will be, the interest rate will be lower than any of the rates going on out there. So that's important.

Okay. All right. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you, Roland. All right. Thank you very much. All right, folks, we've got to go to a break. When we come back, more of Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered?

Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. unfiltered. 20,000 of our fans, contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Let's go! All right, folks, Life, Luck, Jazz Experience taking place in Cabo, November 7th through the 11th. Of course, if you want to attend, go to lifeluxjazz.com, L-I-F-E-L-U-X-E-J-A-Z-Z.com. But if you cannot be in Cabo for those four days, 14 different amazing artists,

then, of course, you could live stream it. Get your live stream pass at G-F-N-T-V dot com. That's G-F-N-T-V dot com. As I said, amazing artists, Gerald Albright, Alice Bunyan, Kirk Whalum, Donna McClurkin, Shalia, Roy Ayers. Man, it's going to be an unbelievable three-day extravaganza. So I look forward to you participating. And again, get your live streaming pass to cover those three days, all 14 concerts. You'll be able to watch right here on your phone, on your iPad computer.

It does not matter. Go to GFntv.com. That's gfntv.com to get your live stream pass. October's Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and we hear that term often but may not consider that and it comes in many forms. It's not something that just occurs between couples. Here to explain is C. Anderson, a licensed therapist

and author of the book Love Taps, a book that details the red flags of an abuser. C, how you doing? Hello. How are you? Doing great. So when you say it's not just couples, explain that. What do you mean?

So domestic violence is an umbrella. It really encompasses intimate partner relationships, which would be a romantic couple, but also child to parent, parent to child, elder abuse, financial abuse. All of these things fall under me I still believe is a fundamental problem is that whenever we talk about domestic violence, we often talk about this only from the perspective of a woman being a victim. But we don't confront and deal with men. And it happens all the time. And you, like for instance, I mean, you will rarely see news organizations or others are actually engaging men on these issues,

engaging men on what their lives were like growing up, what they experienced, PTSD, their own trauma, how what they saw contributes to how they also behave now. That to me is also, I think, a big problem. Absolutely. So we know through studies that if a child witnesses intimate partner violence, they have a 50% higher chance of becoming either a perpetrator of violence or a victim themselves. So when we talk about men and their experiences, many times they have learned this behavior, they have seen

this behavior. However, that doesn't take away the accountability for their actions, but it's very much something that comes out of an environment that has caused them some repercussions. I know my panel are there, so let's go to them for questions. Cleo, I'll start with you. Yeah, here in Washington, D.C., it has one of the only domestic violence shelters for men. I was wondering if your work in Love Taps, which is a very powerful title for your work, Love Taps. Thank you. If you actually deal with domestic violence experienced by men from their partners.

I absolutely do. One of the things that I wanted to present in the Love Tap books, not only red flags that are not even physical, I wanted anyone, whether it be cisgendered men and women, whether it be anyone in the LBGT community, I wanted people to be able to identify so they can replace the pronouns with whatever fits. But specifically speaking about men,

the thing with men is that 90% of perpetrators that report or that are arrested are men to women, but men especially do not come forward because of the embarrassment that they face when they speak out, because of the shame that they feel, because they're supposed to be masculine, macho, able to prevent that sort of thing from happening from them. But I find that men that do come in to see me experience the same type of damage, the same type of abuse tactics that many that do come in to see me experience the same type of damage,

the same type of abuse tactics that many women do. Absolutely. That's why I asked, because it's often not on the table to discuss when we talk about domestic violence, and I want to reiterate that Washington, D.C. unusually has a domestic violence shelter for men who have been abused primarily by women. Yes. Mustafa. violence shelter for men who have been abused primarily by women? Yes. Mustafa? Yes. Is there any groundbreaking research or techniques that can be incorporated, I guess, into an educational process in our churches, our synagogues, our mosque, you know, the places where people gather that could help us to eliminate this violence? I am so glad that you mentioned

faith-based communities in your question. I have found that the most resistant group of people are those who are in the church, who are in the synagogue, who are in a faith-based community because they believe several things. One, they believe that abuse in the home is a family and private

matter. The other, they believe that you can just pray it away. I tell people all the time that regardless of your faith, you are to use your belief system and wisdom and your feet and hands to get yourself freedom and to get yourself help. So it is my goal for faith-based communities to learn more about how to prevent and also how to address and properly respond to victims, whether men, women, or children that come to them seeking

assistance. All right, Lauren. You see anything in your work that would expose the correlation between domestic abuse and law enforcement? It's interesting that you bring up that correlation, not specifically in the research. However, I have found that when you have two groups of oppressed oppression. So African-Americans, we are black in a country that is majority white, right, in power.

But we as women are also African-American women, which makes us a double minority and a more oppressed group of people. And we tend not to trust the legal system, law enforcement, the judicial system. And I've also found that there is a correlation between wanting to protect our men from entering into or being prosecuted versus protecting our own selves. All right then, we'll see. We certainly appreciate you for your work and good luck. And again, folks, the book is called love taps thanks a lot thank you all right folks that would you want to talk to you uh on yesterday and that is

the remains of camille cupcake mckinney uh abducted 10 days ago harmingham birthday party unfortunately were found by police and fbi agents last night inside of a dumpster at a landfill. Discovery marks a sad end to a massive search that has kept Birmingham and all of Alabama on edge for nearly two weeks. Our thoughts and prayers certainly are with the family and friends of that young woman. Also, an update to another story we had on this show, Roland Martin Unfiltered. Remember the Phoenix police officer who drew his gun on a black family and yelled profanities at them over a family dollar doll? Here was that video. Here was that video. Police? Yeah. It doesn't open. It doesn't open. I promise.

I promise it doesn't open. You're gonna fucking get shot. It doesn't open. Get your fucking hands off me. I can't open the car. I can't open the car. Get out the fucking car. You're gonna get shot.

You're gonna get shot. Get out the fucking car right now. Can I have my ass? Yes. Get out now. All right. Get out the fucking car. All right.

Okay. All right. You fucking hear that? Get out of the fucking car. You recording it?? Get out of the fucking car! You recording it? Yeah, I'm recording it. Put your hands up. I don't give a shit. Put your hands up.

Hands up. I can't put my hands up. I'm a fucking naked man. I can't. I'm pregnant. It's all for you. Just overdo it, shit. It's all for you to overdo it. It's all for you to overdo it. I have to get out of here.

Hey, sit and break your feet. When I tell you to do something, you fucking do it. I'm sorry, I'm not, I'm sorry. I'm just not deciding. You're not complying with me. Yes, I am. When I tell you to do something, you fucking do it. I am.

I'm complying with everything, sir. Okay, sit down. Shut your mouth. Get the other key down. Remember, it was their child actually had taken the doll from a store. They had no idea the child had done that. Well, that cop has been fired, according to police chief Jerry Williams. The decision comes four months after that cell phone video of the families being tormented went viral

and sparked a lawsuit against the city. The charters included battery, unlawful imprisonment, and violation of the family's civil rights. And so that cop, out of a job, hopefully Cleo, is not going to get hired by another nearby police department. We know how that goes. Yeah, we might not be able to control that.

We heard about, you know, a racist murderer and others who have gotten jobs. But I think it's important to raise the issue of local voting for a moment here, because there was a sister who was the chief of police there. And she is there because of systems that people have to vote in, vote in the place to help make sure that kind of outcome occurs. So I think it reiterates the importance of local voting matters, though all voting matters, but we need to understand

how to control our local communities. The other thing I want to mention is that these white cops did this monstrous crap by having a white woman, excuse me, a black woman as their boss. And their delivery in terms of how abusive they were, they have done this before. We can tell there was no stuttering. They delivered their abuse quite well and without any kind of problems, no stuttering or anything. So they've done this before. So I think it's important to look at the dichotomy of having a police chief who's black

and how cops act anyway when they want to be racist toward black people. And I congratulate these people for getting justice so far. I think they've swooned for like 10 million or something like that. And based on all this recognition, including what you've done on this show, they just might get it.

But it's deep that this would have been known about at all if it was not for the video on the phone. And I reiterate that because in most cases, our phone is in our back pocket. We're not ready. We don't even know, as you said, they didn't even know that the baby had the doll. So they're really lucky to have this covered. And I'm going to end with this. This happens all the time, and we don't always get to see it because people don't always film it. But congratulations to that family for getting justice. Absolutely. Lauren Burke.

Lauren Burke. Yeah. So, you know, to some extent, I think no matter what local voting you may have or what's going on with the police chief. The fact of the matter is that you have stupid, abusive people in every job on this planet and when you have them in law enforcement, which is I think one of the more important jobs that we have in our society and I certainly have several members of my family who are in law enforcement, these are jobs that really require a high degree of responsibility and good judgment. And when people abuse that, unfortunately it is too, I think, a profession that attracts people that want to control other people.

And so, you know, you really have to be good about who you hire. You have to be deliberate about who you hire. Standards have to be high. One of my best friends is a federal law enforcement officer, and their requirements for federal law enforcement are extremely high. They send them down to Georgia to a training facility for months on end. Most jurisdictions and most agencies in law enforcement do not have that level of training, and when you see these smaller communities in particular, they will... I don't want to say it so cavalierly they'll give a badge and a gun to anybody, but some of them will give a badge and a gun to anybody.

So, and you see it in these videos, and it's scary because it's a person with authority to take somebody's liberty away, and they have a weapon and a license to kill. So it is, it's scary to see. I know a lot of cops, and it's just very scary to see. Mustafa, I mean, this is a doll. Right, right, that's the thing. These cops, I mean, these cops were going

nuts over a doll. Right. That's right. Mustafa? Yeah, something that may have cost a few dollars. It may have only cost a dollar. You're going to pull your guns out. What if a child inadvertently makes a movement and you pull the trigger? What if a parent is reaching for their child to protect them and you pull the trigger? So, you know, we've got to have police officers and there are a lot of good police officers out there, but when we have these bad police officers, they need to lose their job. And if they have violated people's civil rights, human rights, various rights, then they need to be held accountable. And they need to spend time where we would put anybody else who was violating people's rights like that.

And that's just real talk. I think this goes beyond the doll because those people were compliant. They were compliant the whole time. They were almost apologizing for being alive in front of these cops. And they were talking in a very apologetic voice. And they were calm, and they still were being battered. They're still being abused. This is not about just that doll. This is about white folks acting out on black people and acting out some rage.

And I think that has become even more bold because of the Trump administration, though it had preceded him by centuries. But I think this is not about that doll. I don't think the cops were mad about that doll. I think those cops were taking an opportunity to be abusive and vicious. Because again, those people were nice the whole time. I'm sorry, sir. I don't mean anything, sir. And they still were vicious and they raised the bar regardless of how these people were acting. And I don't think it was over no doll. Well, insecurity and fear plays itself out in the workplace and so many jobs when it plays itself out with law enforcement, right? And you have insecurity and you have fear over

what? A doll. So, I mean, this call is not a domestic violent call. It is not a serving of a warrant to somebody who just killed somebody. And, you know, here you have this thing. But I do think, unfortunately, that some of these professions attract a certain sort of individual that's looking to be in that position to control other people. You know, and I think that's a scary thing. And I think when they screen people, this is something specifically they need to look for. Everybody understands that law enforcement is a complicated profession. It's one of these professions, unfortunately, that requires people to have to see the worst in society over and over and over again.

And I think, like I said, until police departments try to address that psychological issue, you have this. And, of course, in our country, there's that. The racial dynamic makes it even more complex. Roland, remember, not that long ago. Final comment. I was just going to say, not that long ago, we saw officers leading a black man by horseback down the street. And we asked the question, when's the last time you saw someone leading a whiteback down the street. And we asked the question, when's the last time you saw someone leading a white person down the street like that?

When's the last time you saw a white family with a child who took something from a store inadvertently being treated like this? And until we have parity in the system, then we have to call out that this is racism and discrimination in its truest forms. All right, folks, we certainly appreciate Cleo, Lauren, Mustafa. Thank you so very much. Folks, don't forget. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered, please go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do this. Independent, black focused, no apologies whatsoever.

And so we certainly appreciate uh all of you who are members of our fan club you can of course pay via cash at paypal or even uh square also want to give a shout out to let me pull up right here uh one of our folks uh actually gave during the show and i think i should be able to um it on the YouTube channel. Sorry if I am not able to spot it. But one of our folks, again, on the YouTube channel did give. And I really appreciate them doing so. Hey, Minneapolis, I'm going to be in your city tomorrow. Of course, the Urban League have their gala.

And so I will be speaking in Minneapolis tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Not the cold weather, but it will be great to see folks come on out to the Minneapolis Urban League Gala. So, look forward to it. Alright, folks, I gotta go. I shall see y'all tomorrow right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered.

Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. And then be sure to click the button to the right so that way every time we go live with the show, a one-on-one interview or a conference or a rally that we're covering or a protest, you will be instantly notified and you can check it out as well. Please also share with a friend. We've got 388,000 YouTube subs.

I would love for us to hit 400,000 by the end of the year. That's the way we do it, being black, being real. All right, y'all take care. Got to go. And also, Astro, lost last night, but we'll tie the series up tonight. Remember the Yankees won? Oh, that's right.

Lauren Victoria Burke, would you like to apologize for all that trash talk you were doing on social media about your little Yankees? Is Lauren there? All right, you're going to be apologizing when the Nats rise up. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Say it again. Say it again, Lauren. You're going to be apologizing when the Nats rise up on you. I mean, because you were talking a lot of trash on Instagram and Twitter. I mean, a whole lot. Yeah. We're not worried about, you know, Yankees won the first game

and you were feeling yourself. What happened by game six? Y'all were packing up. Look, the Yankees don't have to apologize for anything. This is the greatest sports franchise in sports history. Oh, no, no. I didn't say the Yankees got to apologize. I'm saying the trash-talking Yankees fans who got their butt handed to them

by my Astros. Yeah, I thought so. So, all you Nationals fans, trust me, the series will be tied up tonight, 1-1. Burt Lander is on the mound. I'm just letting y'all know.

That's right. It's how we do. Gotta go. Holla! this is an iHeart podcast