#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 10.29 Can Dems flip TX? Sen. Chuck Schumer talks expanding SCOTUS; Trump failed U.S. on COVID-19

Episode Date: October 30, 2020

10.29.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Can Democrats flip Texas? Sen. Chuck Schumer talks expanding the Supreme Court; Trump has failed America on COVID-19; Can Cynthia Wallace win her challenge against Republican Dan Bishop in NC; comedian and activist Luenell is here to talk about how black Hollywood is helping to drive voters to the polls.Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: Ceek Whether you’re a music enthusiast or an ultra-base lover. CEEK’s newly released headphones hear sound above, below and from multiple directions unlike traditional headphones where users only hear sound from left and right speakers. Be the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

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Pre-game to greater them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Today is Thursday, October 29th, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, Texas Democrats may take control of the House if they win nine seats. Also, what about the issue of voter suppression? We'll talk with Congressman Mark Vesey of Texas about that. Senator Chuck Schumer is in the Democratic minority, but depending upon what happens on Tuesday, he could be the next majority leader. We'll talk with him right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Also,

folks, it's all about the Electoral College. The question is, how is it lining up? New polling data looks very good for Joe Biden. But we keep telling you, don't pay attention to the polls. And in North Carolina, Cynthia Wallace, who formerly headed the Democratic Party in North Carolina, she is running for Congress in a race a lot of people have not paid attention to. But it was a race that dealt with voter fraud by Republicans. Folks, we've got a jam-packed show for you. It's time to bring the funk on Rolling Mark Unfiltered. Let's go.

He's got it. Whatever the piss, 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 belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks

He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, yo It's Roland Martin, yeah Rolling with Roland now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Roland Martin Yeah, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real. The best you know, he's rolling, Martel. Now.

Martel. It has been 34 years since a Democrat has won Texas in the presidential race. That was Jimmy Carter in 1976. But it is very tight in Texas between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. If Donald Trump loses Texas, he can forget any chance at re-election. Massive turnout has already taken place in the Lone Star State. More than 8 million people have already voted. They are shattering records, and very much so, they could have nearly 12 million people vote by Tuesday,

which would be an all-time record. Joining us right now is Mark Vesey, congressman from Arlington, Texas. Congressman Vesey, glad to have you on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Hey, Roland, how's it going? It is absolutely great, sir. 38 electoral college votes. That is a huge haul for Texas. I'm wearing my Jack Gates High School vote shirt. I want to thank our alumnus Carl Davis for sending it to me. Again, a lot of Democrats,

look, the long given up on the Lone Star State. Republicans have won every statewide seat since 1998, but explosive growth in the suburbs has fueled Democratic victories on a local level when it comes to the statehouse as well. It could also be showing up this time in the presidential race. Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, it's incredible what's happening right now.

I mean, you look at the suburbs, as you mentioned. I mean, we're going to win a congressional seat that runs parallel with mine from Fort Worth over where I live into Irving and even in Texas, even a little bit of Collin County and Congressional District 24. That's going to be Candace Valenzuela. That district was held by Kenny Marchand forever. It was drawn to be a safe Republican seat for 10 years at the beginning of the decade. And now Candace is poised to be the first African-American Latino. Her dad is Mexican-American and her mom is black. She's poised to be the first Afro-Latino to represent the state and the country in the U.S. Congress. And it's just stories like that. I mean, who would have ever thought that Democrats could win in places like Capel, which is in Candace's district in Denton County, where we had a state legislative victory in 2018, in Round Rock, which is in Williamson County, north of Austin, we won a state rep seat. And we're going to continue to make

gains up and down the ballot. We're going to pick up the nine seats. I feel very confident about that, that you talked about, to win the state legislature, which is crucial because they're the ones that redraw the U.S. congressional lines. And I think that MJ is really going to surprise a lot of people with her performance on election day. And I feel great about Biden's chances. But I mean, people have to understand that regardless of what happens, because the race is within the margin of errors, if Biden gets close, the ramifications that will be felt down ballot will be so huge that it will change Texas politics forever going into the future. And so I'm excited about that. But

I do believe that Biden has a great shot to bring this thing home for us. We were in, of course, we were in Georgia on Tuesday where Joe Biden held a rally there, very tight race there as well, to show how critical this is and show how close this is. The Biden campaign is dispatching Senator Kamala Harris to Fort Worth, to Houston and another city in Texas on Friday to be to see a Democratic vice presidential candidate campaigning in Texas at that late this late stage of the race shows you how the map has fundamentally changed and how the anger towards Donald Trump is driving people to the polls. Yeah, no, absolutely, Roland. And something key about that, because Senator Harris

is going to be visiting my district in southeast Fort Worth. And I think that's important for a lot of different reasons. Remember, Tarrant County, because of your time that you spent in Dallas when you were in journalism here in Dallas, you know that Tarrant County is right next door to Dallas. We're in the same media market. But what was different between Dallas and Tarrant is that Dallas turned blue in 2006 to where Tarrant has continually been red. And it was one of the last large red urban counties in the entire country.

And Beto narrowly won Tarrant County in 2018. He won with about 49 percent of the vote. And now it looks like Biden is doing very well here in Tarrant County. Once we win Tarrant County and we continue to do well in these suburban cities in Dallas, Tarrant, Denton counties, Collin County, counties around Austin, San Antonio, Houston. You know, the trajectory for us is nothing but up. And so that is another reason why Senator Harris's visit here tomorrow is so big. Not only is she coming to North Texas, she's coming to Tarrant County, which was the Republicans' last stronghold, because they know once Tarrant County

goes, that's it, that we have officially become a purple state on the way to becoming a blue state. Well, on that particular point there, again, when you look at what is changing there, let's talk about anger. There are a lot of people who said you can't use anger at the ballot box. But the reality is the anger at Donald Trump and his policies, his behavior, his antics is fueling a significant turnout. When you look at a lot of these first time voters, a lot of young people as well, a lot of the people who saw what happened with the students in Parkland saw what happened with the shooting that took place there right outside of Houston as well and how, frankly, Donald Trump has shown no empathy whatsoever to those young folks who have been killed in these school shootings.

What we are seeing is, again, if we step back for a second and look at the map, we talk about what's happening there in Texas and then what's happening in North Carolina. New Pulse comes out five points in Florida. What's happening out West as well. He's maintained, Joe Biden is maintaining a city lead in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and as well as Wisconsin. And so we are seeing how even Joe Biden is drawing a lot of white support away from Donald Trump. That's what's, that's also what's fueling his numbers. The combination of peeling back white support, diminished white females voting for Donald Trump based upon the polls, and then also significant Black and Latino turnout. Yeah, no, absolutely. And, you know,

I think that Donald Trump's behavior definitely plays a role in this. And I think that because Joe Biden is someone who is trusted, someone who is seen as empathetic, someone who is seen as not making a lot of these situations even worse, like with some of the unrest that we've seen in our cities over police brutality, someone that is trying to look for ways to bring us together instead of using it as a reason to bring us apart the way that Trump does. Joe Biden wants to build back better, and he wants to have a White House to where everyone feels welcomed

and all ideas are welcomed on how we can make these things better. And I think that people are recognizing that. It's been said for a long time in Texas that a lot of these suburban moms, particularly these white soccer moms, as they have been historically called, that they really weren't Republicans. They were just voting that way because that's how their

neighbors voted, or that was how they identified from when they were in high school. But they were never really strong Republicans. And I do think that Donald Trump has pushed them away. And I also think that because Joe Biden is running so strong at the top of our ticket again, he's seen as someone who really wants to help bridge a lot of these divides and bring the country together. And I think that makes a very big difference. And I think that you're going to see a lot of these voters go his way. And that's why we're competitive in places, you know, like Round Rock outside of Austin, again, as cities outside of Houston. You know, we've already won pretty much for the most part of all these urban areas. But now we're going to continue to move into these suburban Republican strongholds because of the poor job that Trump has done, but then also because I really do think that people are buying Joe Biden's message of building back better and making America the type of place that we know it

to be. And then I think also putting dignity back into the White House. I mean, when we were kids growing up, we always saw the White House as a very dignified It's a place that was the pinnacle of American success. And regardless of party, kids were taught to look up to the president. You just can't do that anymore with Donald Trump. And Joe Biden is seen as someone that can just restore a lot of that hope. And so I'm happy that he's our nominee. And because of that, again, the wins that we're going to see down ballot here in Texas, I think are going to be significant. And I think that because of that, Texas in 2022, 2024 will probably lead at the top of the hour on all the national news shows because all the action will be here.

Congressman Mark Vesey of Texas, I appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Hey, thanks for rolling. All right, let's bring in my regular Thursday panel. We have Dr. Greg Carr, Chair, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University, Recy Colbert, Black Women Views, and Erica Savage-Wilson, of course, host of Savage Politics Podcast. Greg, you've got lots of family there in the Houston area. Our nephews graduated together. This is when you examine what is happening here, when you examine and I'm going to need and I'm going to say something and the people's going to people may misinterpret this, but if they pay attention, they're going to realize something. Black people are some of the most astute voters in America. Greg, in February, there were a lot of people who were saying, what the hell is wrong with these old black people in South Carolina? What's wrong with

these people? Why do they pick Joe Biden? I was saying, folks, black voters make strategic decisions. What I often heard, and we articulated on this show, is that there were people who said, who has a better shot at trying to get some of these white folks? They said Joe Biden. They looked at the entire field and they said, you know what? You got people who say, man, we don't want another old white guy. But black voters in South Carolina said, who do we think has a better shot at winning, which includes peeling some of those white folks? They said, Uncle Joe Biden. We are seeing that in the poll numbers right now, Greg. And let me be clear, I'm telling people, ignore polls, but you still have to examine polls are a snapshot in time.

He is appealing, and he is pulling a larger share of white voters than Hillary Clinton did in 2016. No, absolutely. You know, I don't think any of us are happy about it, but black people in America

know white people. So let's be clear. I don't like it. The circumstances that brought that into effect, of course, enslavement is something we all thoroughly reject, but the simple matter of fact is we know white people. And we know

that Joe Biden, a white man, will get traction in places that Hillary Clinton, a white woman, will not get because black people know white people and they know white patriarchy and white racism as well. You know, we're not cheerleaders for Joe Biden, but we understand, as you've said often

and as has been said many times on this show, our rights are always on the back. And so it was very interesting to hear Congressman Veazey, you know, we're thinking about your home state, brother, like you say, where your nephew, my nephew right there, backyard neighbors right there in Harris County.

Think about the fact that, you know, 1.2 million people have already voted. You were shedding tears for a reason sitting out there in front of the church, man, as people were lining up last week. And, you know, they only 1.5 million from Harris County voted in 16. They're going to shatter that number and still got a million more people to get

out there. Local elections matter. They've gone from $4 million invested in Harris County when Republicans ran the county to $31 million now the Democrats run it because people have voted for Democratic politicians there in Harris County to make that explode. And, you know, I'll be very interested to hear what Reese and Eric have to say about this, because at the end of the day, with a state that is almost 30 million people now, second only to California that's got close to 40 million people, between California and Texas, that's over a fifth of the population of the United States of America. This whole democracy is, I'm sorry, democracy. This whole country is getting ready to be renegotiated politically.

And in 2020, Black people not trying to save America as much as these Black voters understood that with our rights always on the ballot, we got to save ourselves as this demographic changes. And 2020 is an important moment. This is a watershed moment in a battle between a dying white nationalism and a country being born. But it could be still born if black people hadn't stepped in the gap

and said, we know you racists ain't going to vote for Kamala Harris, so therefore, let's just put Joe Biden in here so we can ride this next four years so y'all don't kill us all. Erica Savage will say it was about winning. It's about winning. And what I kept hearing from black folks is they said, look, we will do whatever is necessary to get this guy out. And look, people are still voting. Look, we are making the assumptions based upon what existing polling,

but it's been very consistent how they've been trending. It hasn't been sort of up and down, up and down. I'm stating this for a reason, Erica, because I kept telling people Joe Biden, Joe Biden, because he wasn't outlandish. He wasn't already framed in terms of how Hillary Clinton was. He was somebody who wasn't going to in terms of how Hillary Clinton was. He was somebody who wasn't going to upset the apple cart. Now, there are those people out there that people probably responding on our message boards who say, no, we need a radical, a radical voice. We needed somebody who was going to come in there and blow up the entire system.

That's what the Tea Party people said as well. And they kept losing until they said we can't change Jack unless we win. Right. Winning is the ultimate shut up. And what Dr. Carr said about black voters. Absolutely. Not only are we the most strategic and pragmatic voters, but we also are bellwethers. If you pay attention to the voting patterns of black people, we're absolutely letting you all know what's going to happen next. What are the things that we're concerned about? Dr. Avis Jones and DeWeaver and Melanie Campbell, you had them. You've had them on the show multiple times, but this Essence polling that was just released, it talked about the things that were top of line for Black women voters, thinking about the rise in hate crimes and thinking about a lot of Black and brown women who work service industry jobs. And with the now almost 230,000 deaths by coronavirus and 9 million infections, we're also learning that a third of the folks that are dying are health care workers. And where do Black and

brown bodies occupy much of their way that they earn wages? It is in the health care workers and where do black and brown bodies occupy much of their way that they earn wages? It is in the health care industry. So, you know, going back to polling, going back to our rights always being on the ballot, and then what Dr. Carr said about local elections matter, they very much so matter in their personal because when you look and you see the changes that were made in Texas with the county clerk and all of those different administrators that work on the local level, you'll also say, in addition to what Dr. Carr brought forward, the eight times money and spending, you're talking about countywide around the elections budget, you're also going to see also some of the changes they made. 24-hour polling locations. Who does that impact? Those

same group of workers that I was talking about, people that are working 12, 16-hour polling locations. Who does that impact? Those same group of workers that I was talking about, people that are working 12, 16-hour shifts in this environment to help keep food on their table, people who are working two and three jobs to kind of piece together for that job that they no longer have because of the 8 billion people who have slid into poverty and because of this sudden plansman who still does not have a national testing strategy around COVID and the pandemic. So we are voting, as Dr. Carr said, to stay alive and to make sure the people behind us will be alive as well. And Risi, I need the people who are watching to understand when Erica talks about that 24-hour voting, the curbside voting, the drive-through voting. Chris Hollins, black clerk, Harris County. Rodney Ellis, black county judge. You have a Latina, a young sister who was elected to be

the county judge in Texas. For the first time, Democrats have a majority on the Harris County Commissioner's Court. Who controls voting in the county? The Commissioner's Court. And so when we're talking about voter suppression, we're talking about how do we change a system. It is important when we had Commissioner John Wiley Price of Dallas on the show when I was at Friendship with Baptist Church, when we're placing folks in these positions. And so now you're seeing the outcome of this. And so now you can begin to make the changes. And what I need people to understand, again, Joe Biden ain't perfect, but guess what?

Hillary Clinton wasn't perfect. Obama wasn't perfect. And Republicans, they said Trump wasn't perfect, but you know what they did? They coalesced around Trump. And they said an imperfect, crazy, but you know what they did? They coalesced around Trump and they said an imperfect, crazy, outlandish Trump. Republicans said we will pick him over a Hillary Clinton, but you got these progressives who will say, oh, here's a third party person. And here's this person. I just can't vote for Hillary. I just can't vote for Biden. Well, guess what? If that's your opinion,

then trust me, you are positioning your children's children to get screwed if they control the federal courts, if they control what's happening. You are to see these voting decisions. The Supreme Court is going to take up Section 2, a case out of Arizona. They could gut the Voting Rights Act. But if Democrats win the Senate, they already control the House. They can actually pass a new Voting Rights Act, and it doesn't have to have a 25-year sunset provision. They could steamroll Republicans and run it through. And so for the people who are looking for the perfect, I mean, I need the candidate to make me feel good and thrill me. That doesn't

exist, but you better understand who do I have a better shot at getting what I want. That's how you have to vote. Absolutely. So yeah, I want to shout out Lena Hidalgo, who is the Latina judge you were referring to, Chris Hollins. We've been saying this for months now that local county elections officials matter to put pressure on your board of commissioners or however it's organized locally to ensure that they are doing things like expanding early voting and access to voting. And we see that when people are when the right people are in place, then we see record turnout like what we have in Harris County. To your point about Joe Biden, Lord knows

I'm team Kamala all the way, so I was never rah-rah Joe Biden. But I do concede that as it happens, South Carolina black older voters were right. I was pissed off as all hell that, you know, I felt we were abdicating our authority, our power, where we would have picked whatever, whoever the nominee was, to what we thought white voters were going to pick. But as it happens, it wasn't a bad calculation. We're seeing that. But I want to also state, as people are probably expecting me to state, as a Senator Kamala Harris supporter, this equation works because Senator Kamala Harris is on the ticket. And there is ample data to support this. The day that Joe Biden overtook

Donald Trump in the money race was the day that Senator Kamala ample data to support this. The day that Joe Biden overtook Donald Trump in the money race was the day that Senator Kamala Harris was announced as VP. She has the highest favorability ratings out of everybody on both tickets. Also, what we're seeing is record galvanization of AAPI voters. In Texas, what we're seeing is we're seeing that they have already exceeded their 2016 turnout. This is happening in multiple states throughout the country, as well as, you know, you have Black seniors that are exceeding their turnout in multiple states. These are critical battleground states. And so I think that, you know, Joe Biden deserves credit. He's done a good job with his campaign. He certainly

is much more, you know, digestible, palatable to white voters. But we also have to give some credit to Senator Kamala Harris, who has truly energized and really galvanized a broad coalition of people that weren't as energized before she was on the ticket. Well, but the reason I'm framing this this way, Greg, is because I listen to people. I saw a video of Reverend Fred Price Jr. or a third or whatever. And he was like, well, if it's the lesser of two evils, you don't have to vote. And the reason I find the statement to be problematic, because I'm dealing with reality. So let me just use Republicans as a perfect example. I've heard what these Republicans have said privately about Donald Trump.

Do they think Donald Trump is a Christian? Hell no. Do they think Donald Trump really, really is pro-life? Nope. Do they really think Donald Trump just loves the military? Nope, because we know exactly what he said privately. And General John Kelly has not come out to dispute it. But this is what they said. He's a conduit to power. Now, whether or not you look at this thing is saying, well, that's immoral and things that they did. They had control. They control the Senate. That's how they got Amy Coney Barrett. And I'm a talk to Senator Chuck Schumer in about 30 minutes, because the reality is this. You cannot do anything if you're not in power. You can't change laws if you're on the outside and they have the majority.

You can't do jack about criminal justice reform. You can't do anything about black businesses. And let me say this to all the folks sitting here, your ADOS folks and your FBA folks and the folks who support reparations.

Show me, please, where a single Republican has agreed with y'all on reparations. I'll wait. So if you're talking about trying to get something and trying to achieve something, you got to step back and say A or B, D or R, donkey or elephant, red, blue or red, out of these two, which path am I likely to get more of what my community needs? That doesn't mean you get my vote and I disappear.

What it means is I'm a vote for you, but I'm a to hold your ass to the fire to get it done. And if you don't, I'm going to sit here and light your own fire to put some heat on your behind to get it done. That's exactly what Republicans did in 2016, and that's how Donald Trump won. They coalesced around him and said, we don't really like him, but hell no to her. That's what they did, and that's how they got power. Absolutely, Roland. I mean, the United States of America is a settler state. The exclusion of non-whites in this country by using the law to exclude non-whites in this country goes back to 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act. Fast forward to 60, 70 years to Gunnar Myrdal, a Swedish social scientist who came here and

who put together a book along with a lot of black social scientists called An American Dilemma. One of the things he wrote in there is that there is a fear in white America of an overtaking by nonwhite populations. Fast forward another 20 years, and you have the Immigration and Nationalization Act of 1965, which along with the Voting Rights Act of 65, the Civil Rights Act of 64, and the Fair Housing Act of 68, become the moment when the white nationalists, and we're setting aside DNR right now, we're talking about white nationalists, are terrified of this being overwhelmed by this non-white population.

Now, come to 2020. Well, before we get to 2020 in 15 seconds, let's linger in the late 1980s when the Federalist Society was created. I was in the time I remember that. People are looking like, look at these nuts. But they were playing the long game because they realized they're not going to be able to win the electoral game in terms of voting. The electoral college is going to allow them to maintain some power, but at some point that's going to be overwhelmed simply by population, so that the law, rule of law,

judicial supremacy will be the last bastion on which they fight. This is when Brett Kavanaugh was in school. This is when Amy Barrett was in school. This is when Neil Gorsuch was in school. Those three fought on the side of George Bush in 2000 in Bush v. Gore, which is why none of them should be allowed to rule on any of these cases that come before the Supreme Court now. But all three of them are on the court because they understand, to your point, that power is the only thing that matters in a polity that is going to be overwhelmed by non-white people with long memories, reparations. ADOS, Foundational Black Americans, please be quiet at this point because you're running out in the middle of traffic with no plane. See, in a battle, you've got to plan your strategy bit by bit. Now, we're not going to talk about the middle

of November when we come with a list of demands and post up. And you're right. I don't know why I keep mispronouncing Kamala Harris's name. I know Kamala Harris's name. In my mind, I'm putting that stress on the middle syllable, but I apologize for that. But I understand that we're going to have a list of demands and she's going to be the one we're going to run a lot of this stuff through because Joe Biden may not make it through a first turn, but we shouldn't even be talking about that right now because we're in the middle of a battle. The battle is to run through the tape next week. Now, who's trying to stop it? You've talked about this last week and this week, the Pennsylvania case they decided yesterday, looking at this racist Kavanaugh in the Wisconsin

case where they're trying to say that the Constitution assigning power to legislature, that means the elected officials, not the state Supreme Court. And Samuel Alito, that race, the North Carolina case that was decided yesterday, is saying, you know what? We're not saying that we can't come back to this. He said it in the Pennsylvania case, too, when you see this. But he said, you know what? Let them set aside. If y'all come back to us with a motion and say, set aside the ballots that come in after November the 3rd, and we can rule after the election to determine that so that Barrett can vote. And if it's close enough to steal in Pennsylvania, they are going to try to steal this

election. So, FBA, ADAS, all y'all, all 15 people who don't understand how this is played, we gotta run through the tape to the third to get this administration in so that you don't have those people who ain't none of y'all talking about, I ain't

gotta worry about, which is all these people that's gonna lock our kids up and do it. You say, well, they lock them up under Democrats as well. You don't want to test a proposition if you haven't done enough research and study to understand the impact of the courts. If you don't know, just say you don't know. If you're not going to vote, sit aside, leave your grandma alone. And then 18 and 19, you don't like that election judge that was there when I lined up Monday in Maryland to vote. And this young Latina sister took my stuff. And I said, how old are you?

She said, I'm 20. I said, I see you being an election judge. Stay out of our way. Because guess what? The victory is going to help you, too. And after we win, y'all can still hit us with all the stuff. Because I'm with you. I'm red, black, and green down to my soul.

So if you want to argue with me, fine. The fact that you'll have breath to draw to argue, though, will be because of what we do over the next seven days. Now, see, before I go to my next guest out of North Carolina, I really need the folk to

understand even deeper what Greg was just talking about. See, this is what happens also when you don't pick up a book. And I thought I had it over here, but I'm going to grab it in a second. W.B. DuBois' Black Reconstruction. Yes, sir. The 13th, 14th, 15th amendments were reconstruction amendments. The radical Republicans pushed those through to extend opportunities to freed slaves.

Folk talk about the Civil Rights Act that Byron Allen cited in his lawsuit against Comcast. But what folk don't talk about is the Civil Rights Act of 1875. And what folk don't realize is that that was a Civil Rights Act of 1875. In 1876, there was an election that was contested. The Southern Dixiecrats said, all right, fine. Republicans, whether for B. Hayes can become president, but we want y'all to remove the remaining federal troops from these three Southern capitals,

and we're going to leave the blacks alone. Trust us. Republicans took the deal. Black Republicans said the deal black Republicans said the party sold them out the southern Dixiecrats then went into state capitals, walked into the legislature and threw

black elected officials out yes, but y'all might be asking they might be asking Erica why am I bringing up the Civil Rights Act of 1875 because after that was a Rights Act of 1875? Because after that was a great compromise of 1877, which came to that haze in the three southern capitals, what then happened was, what they did was, the same Supreme Court ruled that Congress could not outlaw segregation. Right.

The same Supreme Court. So for all y'all, y'all listen. Dred Scott was 1854. You then had the Reconstruction Amendments. You then had a Civil Rights Act 1860. He had that one in 1860. He had one in 1875. Then you had the Supreme Court that ruled that Congress, listen, the Supreme Court said to Congress, you do not have the authority to rule segregation to be illegal.

And then Plessy versus Ferguson came in 1896 and Plessy versus Ferguson reigned supreme in America until 1954. That was a period of 58 years. Plessy v. Ferguson was not decided by Congress. It was not decided by state legislators. It was a decision rendered by the Supreme Court. So what the Republicans are saying is, we know we're about to lose. We know we're about to lose the White House.

Mitch McConnell said just on Monday, he said, Erica, they can undo everything that we've done here in the Senate, but they can't undo the courts. That's why we have been pushing this for the same crazy Negroes who, why you keep sitting there pushing Biden, pushing the Democrats? Because the judges that Biden and Harris

are going to appoint ain't going to be the same judges that Trump and Pence is going to a point ain't going to be the same judges that Trump and Pence is going to a point because they want to control America through the courts for the next half century, Erica. Well, I think the sermon has been preached. It's been preached largely on this platform since its time in existence. When people talk about voter education, this is where it happens right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. And Roland, that you laid that out for everyone to understand how important this election is. Risi has been calling this a generational election for several months now, when we're also thinking about not only our right now,

but then how it's going to impact us, as you said, 58 years during that time period. Now we're talking about 50 plus years. And to bring into that, you know, for all of the individuals that, you know, didn't mind rocking their shirts and said, you know, I'm not my ancestors, you can get these hands. For everybody that, you know, was definitely about making sure that there was a revolution that did happen. Well, let me tell you, like, for all of those people, that that was the message that they advocated. To add to what Roland laid out, you then had the White House occupants saying, fuck you and your dinner table issues. So these folks do not care.

They will run through the courts to sue you to make sure that your ballots don't count. They will go on vacation again in the Senate. They will recess again instead of making sure that you have what you need as restaurants continue to close, as people are waiting anxiously for some type of relief economically. And they went on recess again without making sure that there was a stimulus pass-through, that these are the same people who have a better understanding of power and that understand that simply by continuing to message you, to tell you what Democrats aren't and that there's really no difference, that you are literally signing away, life as we know it, what we're actually fighting for. So I think that this is really an opportunity

for people, because I don't believe that there are any undecided voters. For all of those people that are on the couch that have been given excuse and excuse and excuse of why they're not going to participate in this electoral process, what you will see in a difference after January and what everybody has really been urging a lot of people to do is going to be start. And anybody that had on those shirts and talking about you can get these hands, let me tell you, and televised the revolution, I'm here to tell you, you can't handle it. You can't handle it. The grit, the power, the motivation, even without technology,

what our grandparents and great-great-parents have, it's not as strong as what in this generation. So I'm here to tell you, get your ass up. You probably have one or two more days to go early vote. Go early vote. Get correct information about dropping off your ballot from people who are learning, who have taken the time to investigate and to understand that perhaps you just can't drop off your ballot somewhere. You may have to get out of your car and deliver it into the board of electors, whatever that process looks like. Get information, get your ass up, cast your vote, or you will be writing yourself into history as one of the lazy, taking the social media keyboard cowboys that led us into this

place where if you didn't understand what slavery was, you're going to get a nice big taste of it. It's common. Reese, just one more historical thing before I bring in Cynthia Wallace. In 1890, I believe that's when it was,

Mississippi had a state convention in 1890. Yes. And what they did was they said, look, it's too many black folks who've gotten elected. I said 1890. Plessy v. Ferguson was six years later.

Civil Rights Act of 1875 was 15 years previously. The Great Compromise was 13 years previously. I'm trying to paint this picture so I can get people to connect the dots. So a lone black man one a lone black man

was invited to participate in the 1890 convention in Mississippi. Yes. He was doing well financially. See, some of y'all know where I'm about to go. A single black man. Yep.

Was doing well financially. Yes, sir. Owned businesses. And he voted with these white races that black people did not have. Black people should not have the power of voting. Not a single black person has been elected statewide in Mississippi because this brother, who will go down in infamy, sat with them and protected his economic interest, his economic interest over the economic interest of his people. So when certain celebrities talk about their tax bracket when Bob Johnson

says I'd rather deal with the devil I know than the devil I don't. What that means is, Bob Johnson, what that means, 50 Cent. What that means to that black man who has a business, who said all he cares about are his tax cuts. To that brother watching who says all I care about is my 401k. You are a modern day Isaiah Montgomery.

Because you will pick your economic interest over the freedom for your people. Risa, go ahead. Oh, man. Y'all have all preached a sermon. It's impossible to follow any of that. I want to say, though, real quick to what Dr. Carr said. The ADOS, FBA, the people who be in my comments calling themselves priming, they don't ever listen to that part. They always like to take the little bits and pieces out of it and forget the part where Dr. Carr says vote.

Okay. But to your point, Roland, I mean, you left out Ice Cube who got $1.7 million of COVID relief from the Trump administration while over 90% of black businesses and 91% of black woman businesses got absolutely nothing from the Paycheck Protection Program. Kanye West is another person who, even though he claims to be a billionaire, got over a million dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program. These are not people that are concerned about the racial disparities and how that money was delivered. And so when you hear Ice Cube, for instance, say that he didn't feel like it would be productive to meet with the highest ranking black woman in the country, Senator Kamala Harris, the next VP and potential president, it makes you wonder, well, what is productive to you?

$1.7 million was productive, and Jared Kushner was productive, and you didn't say anything about that. But I digress. The problem that we have here, and I'm so glad that you're laying out Supreme Court cases, because there's another Supreme Court case that was decided in 1977, and it's Board of Regents, and I can't remember the other name, that outlawed racial quotas, okay? And so a lot of times these folks are sitting up there and they're saying, well, why can't you just say Black? Why can't, why, we need something specifically for Blacks and only for Blacks. And you know, listen, hey, as a Black person, wouldn't that be great? But you have to understand the Constitution.

And so it's really insane that we constantly hear people who have these purity tests, these litmus tests. They have all the smoke. I always complain about it with the CBC, the black elected officials in the Democratic Party. But they don't even understand that the battle lies with the judicial branch. It lies with the courts. And who appoints these people? It's the people that are in power. And so we have to understand what's at stake here. Interestingly, and the last thing I want to make, the last point I want to make is there have been some recent semi-victories. Like you said, they're still reserving the right to go back after the

votes are back, after the votes are cast and changed. Amy Coney Barrett has not participated in any of these major rulings in the past two days. They've all been 5-3 rulings with Justice John Roberts being the deciding, you know, vote. And so once Amy Coney Barrett is in there, then we have to wonder what that impact is going to be. And so we're not out of the clear. I think that the Supreme Court is trying to kind of behave and try to maintain some degree of legitimacy so that people get complacent. They're like, oh, well, maybe it won't be that bad. Democrats, as they put it, Democrats are scoring voting rights victories, which is interesting that a voting rights victory is a Democratic victory instead of a democracy victory. But we do have to keep an eye on what they do after the fact. So we have to, as Dr. Khari says, break their political backs

so that they can't crunch the numbers and say, we're going to outlaw curbside ballot, which is what they're trying to do down in Harris County. They're trying to say that the people that voted curbside cannot vote curbside. Their ballots won't be cast. That's what the Texas Republicans are trying to do. And they're trying to set aside the Pennsylvania ballots that come in after 8 p.m. on Election Day. And so we have to vote in record turnout so that they cannot steal it in any way, shape or form. That's right. That's right. In a minute, in a minute, in a minute,

I got to show y'all some bullshit Lil Wayne just posted. Don't do it, God. You know what? No, no, no, no. Because we were just talking. No, no. First of all, y'all get the tweet ready i want i need to bring in cynthia wallace um and i'm bringing her into this conversation for a reason she's running for congress there

in north carolina i'm bringing her in because everything that we're talking about that's what she and others have been fighting for the last 12 years. Cynthia, in 2008, President Barack Obama got 14,100 votes. He won North Carolina by 14,100 votes. Republicans then took control in 2010, had a super majority, began to change the laws, began to wreak havoc. Democrats, y'all fought, folks. Repairs of the breach, NAACP, Democracy North Carolina, Moral Mondays. They fought like hell.

None right now, a black woman is chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Democrats have a 6-1 majority. The state Supreme court ruled against racial gerrymandering. None of that could have happened, Cynthia, unless the right folks were put in place and unless people use the power of their ballot to affect that change. They weren't, y'all just didn't march in North Carolina. Y'all marched and voted and then made demands of the very people who y'all voted for to make sure they did what they said they were going to do. That is very correct, Roland. So thank you for having me on today, Cynthia Wallace,

Democratic candidate for the 9th Congressional District. I am, you know, I've been a part of this struggle here in North Carolina since about 2008 when I volunteered for then Senator Barack Obama and helped him win this state by 14,000 votes. And then, of course, he didn't win it in 2012, but we successfully elected Roy Cooper in 2016. And then Governor Roy Cooper appointed Sherri Beasley as the first black woman chief justice here in North Carolina. And those are voted seats as well. So she is on the ballot right now to retain that seat. So that is one of the things that it is so important that people vote on. As I like to tell people, vote from the bottom to the top of the ballot, including those judicial races, because those are the difference makers. Right now, my District 9 was redrawn in December of last year

because of the courts, because of those courts knowing that we need fair districts they're not quite as fair as they need to be but they're drawn just a little bit better than they've been for most of this decade and the the reason it's important i'm bringing you in in this here because republicans have spent all this time talking about voter fraud, voter fraud, protect the right to vote. Yet you're running in a race where there had to be a second election in the primary because Republicans were engaged in voter fraud. So that was the first time I came on your show. I was district chair for the Democratic Party for this district, the 9th Congressional District, that had absentee ballot fraud by Republicans. I actually found it rich that President Trump had the nerve to talk about fraud with absentee ballots when the only group I know of that committed mass absentee ballot fraud was Republicans right here in District 9. And I was a part of the group that fought back for a fair election

in early 2019 where we demanded a fair election. And we did get another one. We got another chance to this seat back in September of 2019. And I actually came on your show on election night to talk to you about what I thought or what I hoped at that time was going to be the outcome. And so we've got to keep fighting. I was just on with the Get Out the Vote bus tour earlier today, and I was talking about how important this vote is. And I was also talking about the fact that, you know, if this vote wasn't so important, they would be trying to take it away. That's what they've done for the last decade here in North Carolina.

They've been trying to suppress our vote every way they can. And so we will not have an issue with the possible fraud if we overwhelm them with their vote over the next three days of early voting and then five days until November 3rd. So everyone listening to the show, we're probably preaching to the crowd, to the choir here, Roland, but they need to go back and talk to those people who aren't in the choir and make sure all those cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, coworkers, they have got to vote. This election is so critical. But we can't let them take it if we vote. If we vote in mass, what kind of cheating they can do that can overturn that?

You are running there for Congress. There are five African-Americans who are running statewide. We were there in Raleigh, North Carolina just last week. That's critically important because, again, and three of those folks are running for judicial positions. We've been talking about the power of the courts. And what we're seeing with these Supreme Court decisions, how important getting control of state Supreme Courts is also important. Oh, vital.

And like I said, the lines for the congressional districts here in North Carolina were forced to be withdrawn because of the power of that court system with a democratically controlled majority. Right now in North Carolina, we have 13 congressional seats. Ten of them are held by Republicans and only three are held by Democrats. But when you look at how the people voted in 2018, the vote was evenly split 50-50, yet we only have three of those 13 seats. And so we know there's power in the vote, and there's power in flipping these general assemblies. As important as it is for us to

expand the House with my race and three other women, we have an opportunity to flip the seats, as well as another African American woman who's running. It's also important in North Carolina and I'm sure in some other states that we also take control of those state houses. Because this is 2020, it's a census year and the party that controls these state houses coming out of this 2020 election will have the power to redraw these lines. And we can end some of this gerrymandering right here in North Carolina when we flip a few critical seats in the North Carolina House and Senate. So once again, everything goes back to our vote. We must exercise that power. We must use it. We must not let someone take it.

They can't take it away if we don't. We just give it away if we don't go out to vote. So we've got to do that in these last few days. Cynthia Wallace, running for Congress in North Carolina. We certainly wish you good luck in that race. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you so much. Tell everybody to go out to CynthiaWallace.com

and learn a little bit more about me. Thanks, Roland. All right. Thank you very much. Folks, we go out to CynthiaWallace.com and learn a little bit more about me. Thanks, Roland. All right. Thank you very much. We're going to take a very short break. And when we come back, we'll talk with the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Back in a moment. Hey, Michigan, this is Tracy Ellis Ross, and I have four quick things to tell you. One, you have until October 19th to register to vote. Two, you can vote early in person until November 2nd. Three, if you need a free ride to the polls, use the promo code VOTETOLIVEMI in your Lyft app. And yes, voting is easy and secure. So please vote and visit VOTETOLIVE.org for more information and to make a plan to vote today.

Paid for by Collective Future. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's Godfrey, the funniest dude on the planet. I'm Israel Houghton. Apparently, the other message I did was not fun enough. So this is fun. You are watching... Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered.

On Monday, Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to be the next Supreme Court justice. They ignored their own rules on the Senate Judiciary Committee. They ignored their own rules on the Senate Judiciary Committee. They ignored their own rules on the floor. They ignored what they said about Supreme Court nominees just four years ago when President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland. They ignored all precedent, confirming a Supreme Court nominee the closest that's ever happened to an election. The question is,

what will Democrats do if they take control of the United States Senate? What will they do when it comes to COVID-19 and other issues? Senator Chuck Schumer is the minority leader of the Democrats. He joins us on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Senator Schumer, welcome back on the show.

Good evening, Roland. It's always great to be back. I hope you're healthy. Yes, indeed, sir. I've been on the road. We've been in Florida and helping out Jamie Harrison in South Carolina. We went in Georgia with Warnock and Ossoff. And then we were with Gary Peters yesterday in Michigan.

And then I will be in Jackson, Mississippi on Sunday with Mike Espy. And let me say this here. Oh, yeah. No, we've been on the road making it happen. Let me say this here. Let me just say this. The sound has changed. Yes. And if we can elect some good African-American Democrats like Jamie Harrison, like Raphael Warnock, it took me four months to I tried to get Stacey Abrams to run. She said no. But she said there's someone better than me, Raphael Warnock. It took me four months to, I tried to get Stacey Abrams to run. She said no, but she said there's someone better than me, Raphael Warnock, and we got him. And my guess be it's going to change America. It will make the South democratic. We're pushing very hard on those three races. Anyone from those three states, please, if you haven't voted, make sure

you vote and get five of your friends to vote. We can win these three races. Senator, there are a lot of progressives who say Democrats could have done more to stop the eventual confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett. What do you say to that? Well, let me first say, before I answer you specifically, how despicable what McConnell did is. You outlined that very well at the beginning of this introduction, Roland.

But let's not also forget, also you've talked about it, the rights she's going to take away. She is going to take away our right to health care. She is going to take away a woman's right to choose. She is going to take away voting rights. She is going to take away civil rights. She is going to take away labor rights. She is going to take away our ability to build good climate. She is an awful nominee and will really affect the American people in a serious, serious

way. We want to do, we tried to do everything we could to stop her. Here's the problem. McConnell has so defiled the Senate that the tools in our toolbox are small and not very sharp, but we've used every single one. We recessed. We forced them to vote on keeping the ACA. We forced them to vote on not going to war. We made them adjourn two hours after so they couldn't do committee hearings. And, of course, we boycotted, as you all saw, the vote in the committee. And

in place of our members was a C-picture, very diverse group of young people, old people, middle-aged people who would lose their health care. That's what's at stake. So this is an awful nomination. I called it one of the darkest moments in Senate history. And McConnell has done the wrong thing. And if he thinks that it's going to be business as usual, when we come back to the Senate, he's sadly mistaken. And I'm glad you said that. I remember we before the last time you were on before the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Gator Ginsburg, I said that Democrats should say, all right, Republicans, y'all don't want to play by the rules.

Y'all didn't want, you know, gentleman's agreement. You want to sit and do this here? Fine. We get the majority. We're going to be in control. And I've said I really believe, Senator Schumer, that Democrats should flex that power, that Voting Rights Act, those bills that would be passed in the House, it should be, look, it should be not one bill a week, not one bill a day. It should be like a freight train that's running through the Senate when it comes to passing

bills, dealing with the Voting Rights Act, restoring that because the Supreme Court is going to hear Section 2 where they may very well gut that. When it comes to, of course, the George Floyd Act, when it comes to the CBC's job injustice plan, those are going to happen. And then the Republicans say a word. Your response should be, don't want to hear it because y'all told us the American people elected us.

We have the authority to do so. The Constitution says so do we. Brollinger on the money. We are going to put H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Act, on the floor, H.R. 1, the Democracy Act, the George Floyd Justice Act, to restore some and so much of the bad treatment people of color receive in law enforcement. We're going to do all those things and more. Here's what I've told my caucus. I said the last time Democrats had power, 2009 and 10, we had the House, we had the Senate, we had the presidency. We spent a year and a half doing one thing, a good thing, Obamacare. But it was much too long on one bill.

We have to have big, strong, bold action across the board. That's going to take a lot of unity. That's going to take a lot of hard work. But we have to get it done. America demands it. And McConnell can say whatever he wants, as you said, after he so defiled the rules over the last four years. He has no standing, none. And I think that in talking to the caucus, you're absolutely right.

And I remember that you had some moderate to conservative Democrats who, let me just be clear, I felt were playing games. What then happened is Scott Brown wins the special election in Massachusetts. And then that put that pressure on the House and the Senate to actually get moving. But this, to me, is where people are saying, if you're going to sit here and be in the game, you got to play tough. And look, Republicans have the power. And the reality is, I know what you tried to stop. I know for me, of course, these far right-wing judges, for them to put this white woman on the bench, and I'm saying that for a reason, she's 33 years old, eight years out of law school, rated unqualified,

never been in the courtroom, is going to be a federal judge for life. If she serves as – if Catherine Mazel serves as long as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she's going to be on the federal bench for 54 years. Grossly unqualified because Mitch McConnell said they were targeting jurors between 35 and 45. He made it clear. He said on Monday, point blank, that they could undo what we did in the Senate, but they cannot undo the courts. And out of all those federal judges, one African-American, just one, largely white men.

I've had a record of picking more people of color to the federal bench in New York, black, Hispanic, Asian, LGBTQ, than any other senator has done. And I'm proud of that. And we'll continue that. But let me just say one more thing here. We are not doing this to just get back at McConnell. America has real trouble. We need a COVID bill. People are hurting, getting kicked out of their homes, can't feed their kids, losing their jobs, losing their small businesses. We need to do the things I mentioned in terms of criminal justice and voting rights. We need a big, strong climate bill. But the climate bill has got to pay attention to minorities and not let them get the short end of the stick. We need to do an infrastructure bill and a bill that brings in people, women and minority-owned businesses to do some of the work and employ people. If we train several million people, which the bill requires young people of color to get these construction jobs, that's a godsend for people because these

are good paying jobs. So we have a whole big, broad program. I'm only listing a little of it. And we're going to fight as hard as we can to get all of it done. Mitch McConnell, notwithstanding. Senator Schumer, one of the things that that again, I'm glad you brought up black businesses. Two years ago, now people may call it self-serving, but I advocate for black business across the board. Two years ago, the National Newspaper Public Association got with Congressman Eleanor Holmes Norton, and they said they wanted to know what the federal government was spending on media. In a five-year period,

the federal government spent $5 billion on media. Black-owned media got $51 million of the $5 billion. That's 1%. Black ad agencies have been frozen out. One of the things that I would see, Senator, I really want to see Democrats in the Senate and the House challenge these federal agencies to give black media a fair share, because the reason we can't be bigger and grow is because we can't build capacity because we are frozen out. I want to see the Senate hold hearings to bring these ad agencies forward and say, why are you freezing out black businesses, black media as well? We will never be able to compete if they're

simply throwing, they're not even throwing crumbs at us, they're throwing a crumb and saying y'all split the crumb. Yeah, well I'm with you. I've always been for bringing many more minority businesses in the CARES bill. As you know, we took $15 billion and just labelled it, fenced it off,

so MDIs, minority development institutions, and CFDIs could get the money. That's the kind of thing I believe in. And, you know, businesses, small businesses, have always been ladders up, and it helps people get from poor to the middle class. If minority people don't have those small businesses, those ladders are pulled up. So it's very important to do. One other thing we did in the bill that we can do again, working with the Baptist Church and the AME Church, we allowed the churches to get some of this COVID money because there's no collection plate and there's money, not money coming in. We got to make that stronger because the churches are a fundamental part

of the social service network in the African-American and many other communities as well. Last question I have for you. If we talk about, obviously, look, Tuesday, folks are voting. You're hopeful that if Democrats pick up at least three seats and Biden Harris wins, then you're now in control of the United States Senate. There were a lot of a lot of criticisms of Dianne Feinstein when it came to that Supreme Court hearing. And and I think this is also where when it comes to committee chairs, when it comes to folks who are going to be very aggressive and driving this agenda. I really believe that Democrats should use this opportunity because I call this period we're in Senator, the third reconstruction. should be looking at this moment in time. If Biden-Harris wins and you're able to get control of the United States Senate, in the same way radical Republicans drove through those Reconstruction amendments, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment,

if you have the numbers there, this is the moment to be able to change this country. We're 23 years away from America becoming a nation majority of people of color. And my viewers, my listeners, they are looking for aggressive action out of the gate. The moment there's inauguration and the moment that Congress is sworn into session. Well, I amen. We got a lot to do. The more senators we get, the better we can do more with 55 or 56 than 51. So my final message roll into your great audience is vote, vote, vote. And if you voted, make a promise to yourself and to America that you will get five people who haven't voted to go to the polls between now and Tuesday.

Well, Senator Schumer, I'm glad that you joined the show. This is the third time you won this year. I've been trying to get your counterpart, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on. So why don't you give her a call and tell her she can have a good time when she comes on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hey, I always have a good time, and I will tell her just that, Roland. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Thanks a lot. Take care. Be safe. Thank you. All right, folks, going to a commercial break. We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered in a moment. Hey, it's Nia Long. Listen, I'm where I am today because a lot of people believed in me. They knew I could make an impact if I had a chance to have my voice heard.

In this election, voting is our chance to make an impact. So please, South Carolina, vote early in person between October 5th and November 2nd. And if you need a free ride to vote, use promo code VOTETOLIVESC in your Lyft app. Visit VOTETOLIVE.org for more information. Paid for by Collective Future. Let me take that person's hand and let me be the person, the leader. I'll ask you a question for you. You just take notes for me. Therefore, we got it. Let's find a friend then that can ask. Let's Google. Let's look it up. Let's read. Let's pay attention to the news. Let's, let's, let's, because there's other options. You don't have to be embarrassed by being in the forefront and saying, okay, um, cause you might not even know what to ask.

You may know that you're just confused and you don't know anything. And so that's scary within itself because if you're in a room and they're speaking and you're going, mm-hmm, and you know nothing, it's no question that's going to come to your mind at all. But you've got to be able to say, what did he just say? And grab a little something and hold on to that one thing

and be able to build off of that. We have to be able to encourage our people to do so. Our people faced, right, when they, their lives were actually threatened by the state, state-sanctioned violence, you know, being hung and being murdered and burned and bitten by dogs and sprayed with fire hoses, that our people went through that. We had people die on the battlefield so weak I'm doing my time and then the E means erase from this society rules. And I'm crying in the dark cause I got ghetto blues. From the streets to the jail to the prison.

To the hood, 1.4 million of us. We got the keys to the kingdom. I'm talking about freedom. And my friends, they all left me. Guess they thought I would die. But through the grace of the Lord, I can finally fly. Just like your soul, leave your body When you're deep in your sleep

And we are God's people But we real unique And the pressure that you feel When you fight to get strong I feel it too And my brothers We got the whole loan And all my sisters

I'm sorry for the pain we cause But you know the flesh is weak So we got major flaws From the streets to the town To the prison To the hood One point for a million of us We got the flaws. From the streets to the town to the prison. To the hood, 1.4 million of us. We got the keys to the kingdom.

I'm talking about freedom. In the L for the leaders that be teaching our people. Won't you stop that lying? Because the game ain't equal. In the I, it's ice cream. Sweet, but it melts. Just like your mother on that crack. But she really want help.

In the F for the father Who ain't never been there, cause he been in and out the joint But he really do care, got caught up in the system that was built for us Treat her like an animal, so it's fine, with rotten rust Too many years gone, you out, but you sad cause you broke And your kids full grown, so you sell some dope One year, you stayed out, and you back in the fix You get a visit from your daughter.

And she say you ain't fit. So you cry under the pillow. And your body's real cold. Because you know you're facing life without parole. Looking at the man in the mirror. You a heartless G. Only us can save us. Yeah, I'm talking to we.

Wait a month, so long, they don't hear it. You don't just get my vote for free. You know we got the power, so now they gotta feel it. You have to get my vote for free. You have to earn my vote. Too many people have died for me to have the right to vote. Bringing the spirit of my ancestors. One voice, one mind. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's vote. From the streets to the jail to the prison, to the hood, 1.4 million. We got the keys to the kingdom. We're talking about freedom. From the streets to the jail to the prison, to the hood, 1.4 million. We got the keys to the kingdom. I'm talking about freedom. You don't just get my vote for free. You don't get my vote because I'm black. One voice, one mind. Let's go.

Let's vote. Let's vote. Let's vote. Let's vote. Let's vote. Let's vote. Let's vote. All right, folks. Welcome back to Roller Mart Unfiltered.

Let's go back to my panel. I want to start with you, Recy. Your thoughts on what Senator Chuck Schumer had to say in terms of how Democrats are going to operate if they take control of the Senate. I'm encouraged by what he had to say. I think that we have a huge opportunity with several really viable Black candidates. He only mentioned three, but we also have Adrian Perkins down in Louisiana who was on the show last week. We have Jamie Harrison, who is really giving Lindsey Graham run for his money in South Carolina. Mark Hutter Bradshaw is a little bit of a long shot down in Tennessee. He has a Tennessee,

but I think it could be very transformative to have such a large presence of Black senators for the first time. Unfortunately, we might be faced with a position where we don't have a Black woman senator if Markeita Bradshaw is not victorious in Tennessee. But I think that there's going to be some, the good thing is that the people

that are going to be coming in, should we win, take back the Senate, are people who are going to be coming in should we win, take back the Senate, are people who are going to be expected to push for change, transformational change, and deliver and not be these like blue dog Democrats to Joe Manchin's of the world or even Joe Lieberman back in the day. That's a throwback. And so I think that they're going to really have no choice but to really hit the ground running. And the good thing is that the Senate actually has a large body of work already on its desk. You mentioned the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

There are so many things that they already have ready to go that have just been collecting dust on Mitch McConnell's desk. So I don't see any reason why by the time Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are sworn in, they shouldn't have several pieces of transformative legislation on his desk ready to sign. Well, you made a point about if that happens, there'll be no black women in the United States Senate. Erica, to me, this is the moment, first of all, after Tuesday, if the results turn out where Biden and Harris wins, to me, this is why black folks put pressure on Gavin Newsom and say, appoint a sister, appoint a Karen Bass. You got Barbara Lee out there. You got Maxine Waters. I mean, you've got some strong African-American women. You got some strong African-American women out there who are already in Congress. You have others who are in the state legislature, others who are mayors in California.

So you got some strong options there. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm glad that Reesey County brought that into the conversation because, you know, looking at the woman, Cynthia Wallace, that is running that ninth congressional district down in North Carolina, we think about just looking in terms of what she was able to shore up around donors, only $651,000 in a congressional race to her opponent, Bishop, $4 million. So the other thing, too, is that there's going to be a need to really support Black women, right? So when they are running for office, which we have seen happen exponentially since 2016,

statewide elections and then in congressional elections as well, that they're going to have to have the dollars to support them. In addition to that, I think that the suggestion that you gave Senator Schumer around making sure that, you know, we're not drip dropping the signature of these bills, that these bills are being signed at rapid pace. Right. Because the other thing that people are beginning to know is there's like this whole civic lesson that's going around the power of the Senate, the power of the judiciary, is that the court expansion that has been dropped into the conversation, so it's definitely going to be addressed as he's coming up for reelection in 2022. But also for folks to remember that what we're very hopeful for, Madam Vice President Kamala Harris will also be the president of the Senate. That means that she has the authority to issue tie-breaking votes. And so we want to make sure that particularly if we do have Democrats that are running the White House, that they are also in the Senate as well, that as we're looking to make

demands, that same crowd that was kind of before November the 4th, 3rd, after November the 3rd, to keep that same energy, to make sure that the things that really are going to bode well for not just our community, but our nation, we're thinking about climate. That is something that we have got to get under control. And scientists are saying we have about a seven to 10 year time span in order to do that. So there are many things that are impacting not only community on our nation, and this is where an engaged citizenry is going to have to come into place, that people are going to have to make sure that they are included in this process, not just before the election, but also the responsibility that they have well after the election,

after the inauguration kind of like rush wears off of people to understand that is where the real work begins. Greg, I was real clear. I'm telling you, with all those bills passed in the House, if Democrats get control of the Senate, man, freight train. I would sit there. I would sit there. And while Mitch, if he over there running his mouth, if Lindsey hangs on and wins, if any of them, Ted Cruz, all of them, I'd be like, sit the hell down. Sit the hell down. No, y'all a minority now.

We ain't even talking to y'all. I would run them through. 300-plus bills passed, man, run them through. I'll be doing four a day. I would do one in the morning, one by 10, go to lunch, do one by two, one by four, I'll see y'all tomorrow. It would be like Groundhog Day. We're rolling.

I think in therein lies the problem with a Chuck Schumer. Black people have to play chess. And, you know, listening very carefully, Chuck Schumer is one of the most intelligent human beings in the United States Senate right now. That's a very low bar with men like Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott and Marsha Blackburn and Joni Ernst. But he is an institutionalist. That's his first problem. And as you were saying exactly what you just said to us, he was like, yeah, yeah, we got it. Chuck Schumer, he can't condescend to you, obviously.

He must be smart for that, and you would have picked up on it. But there is a noncommittal element. Chuck Schumer is the leader in the Senate of a party that doesn't have an ideological center, one that's going to fracture. You know, thank you, sis. Thank you, Erica, for bringing up 2022. Because the Democratic Party is a fragile coalition of folks with different interests. And Chuck Schumer is an institutionalist and Mitch McConnell is a white nationalist. Lindsey Graham broke all the rules of the United States Senate to put this handmaiden on the court, Chuck Schumer, finger waving.

It's almost like a democratic version of Susan Collins. But to go to what you raised with Isaiah Montgomery, it's very important to understand this. Isaiah Montgomery was the son of Benjamin Montgomery, who was the overseer on the plantation of Jefferson Davis's brother, Joseph. And his father, you know, Isaiah Montgomery was born into slavery. Isaiah Montgomery's father, Ben, had made a deal with Jefferson Davis's brother, Joe, to take over the nation and to buy it from Davis. Davis died. The family reneged. And Isaiah and his cousin went out and started Mound Bayou, Mississippi, an all-black town. Very important town in the history of black folks in Mississippi. Where am I going with this? How does it tie this up? Shoot, let me tie it together.

In fact, Emmett Till's mother, Mamie, spent the night every night at the house of the surgeon, T.R.M. Howard, in Mount Bayou because black people controlled that city. So when Isaiah Montgomery went to that constitutional convention you mentioned in 1890, he is thinking not only about his individual interests, but like Booker T. Washington, his friend from Tuskegee, he was saying, well, as long as they leave us alone and we control our little city, we could be all right. And, of course, in that Mississippi State Jim Crow Constitution, they put the poll tax and literacy test and all that in and wiped those Negroes out, put that pressure on them. Now, fast forward to today. You asked him about Mike Espy. And he was Chuck Schumer. Oh, it's true. I mean, we got a lot of good candidates. I tried to get Stacey Abrams to run. See, that's the worst kind

of liberal racism. Y'all ain't put a nickel in a race where the state is 40 percent black and you could crush that Confederate Cindy Hyatt, another low bar, low intellect person in the United States Senate. But Chuck Schumer is an institutionalist. Black people have no permanent friends. That's why William Lacey Clay's history of the Congressional Black Caucus says no permanent friends. We got just permanent interests. Chuck Schumer is a tool to be used. And when you hear Erica evoke 2022 and the fact that he may get a challenge in New York because people are tired of it, Chuck Schumer is trying to keep his fragile coalition together. And instead of in a state like Mississippi pouring money into a Mike Espy so that Espy

can come from the Senate and get resources to a cat like Chokwe Lumumba in Jackson while they got a cartoon character like Tate Reeves as the governor of Mississippi and destroy those racists, those crackers in Mississippi and reconstruct that entire state so that a cat like Isaiah Montgomery doesn't think he got to sell out to keep Mount Bayou safe in a white supremacist state. See, black people got to play chess. Chuck Schumer is an institutionalist. He believes in the United States of America. Black people need to stop with the fairy tales. As long as a Schumer and his friend, Dianne Feinstein, who he wouldn't say anything bad about, even though you teed it up for that indefensible party she put on last week.

As long as a Chuck Schumer is thinking more about the institution and the country than the interests of the people who are living and dying in this country, Schumer has to be washed away. And finally, I'll say this. All these people out here, ADOS, FBA, all my super radical friends who read every page of France Phenomenon but don't know how to translate that into actually on-the-ground work, here's the argument you should be making. Black self-determination at the state and local level relates to federal politics by getting elected officials in the federal level that will at least do no harm. Now, Schumer may at least do no harm. And at that point, you have weaponized the state and local officials to do the work you want done at the state and local level. So while you might pass all those bills in

seven days, Chuck Schumer values more, I think, his relationship with the United States Senate and some of his friends on the other side than that. So let's get passed next week and in 2022 retire the majority leader of the United States Senate and replace him with somebody who will help us finally remake this project. So, initially I wasn't going to address this here, but I saw this here and I had to go ahead and I sent a tweet. Yeah, I called him stuck on stupid and being a dumbass. Y'all pull this stupid tweet up.

So Lil Wayne, y'all actually sent this tweet out. And if y'all want to see just how stupid this is, this fool tweeted this more than an hour ago. Just had a great meeting with Donald Trump. Besides what he's done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership.

He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done. What the hell is that fool talking about, Reesey? You know, I just want to start off addressing Lil Wayne by letting him speak for himself. This was from an interview he did with Nightland. I'm going to quote him. And then you guys can determine, people in the comments who are sure to say, oh, he's off the Democratic plantation or whatever.

You tell me if this speaks for you in the Black community. He said, I don't feel connected to a damn thing that ain't got nothing to do with me. This is Lil Wayne discussing the Black Lives Matter movement on Nightline 2016. When he was, when they said Black Lives Matter, what is it? What do you mean?

That just sounds weird. I don't even know why you put a name on it. It's not a name. It's not whatever, whatever. It's somebody got shot by a policeman for a fucked up reason. I'm a young, black, rich motherfucker. If that don't let you know that America understands

black motherfuckers matter these days, I don't know what it is. Don't come at me with that dumb shit, ma'am. My life, my life matter, especially to my bitches. So, that's who Donald Trump is meeting with and assuring that he is going to do right by our

community. Notice there's no black community. It's complete bullshit. What, Lil Wayne is joining the ranks of the other propagandists, people who like smoke, blowing up their ass. How these people are even equipped to talk about anything is ridiculous. But,

I will say this. What Donald Trump has been very effective in is he's been giving people with very low IQ and very low information, very easy things to harp on. Oh, Donald Trump has done a lot for criminal justice system because he passed the first step back, which he basically had absolutely nothing to do with. Never mind the fact that he's restarted the war on drugs, particularly going after marijuana prosecutions and lengthening the sentences of it, and that the private prisons have had a boom and they're spending record money to get Donald Trump reelected. That's not criminal justice reform.

He says that he's going to invest in black communities, even though, as I've already stated, 90 percent of black people were left out of the PPP. Forty one percent of black businesses, 440,000 black businesses have closed under Donald Trump. If you look at his platinum plan, the numbers don't add up. He says he's going to give three million jobs. Guess what? That's one point five million jobs short of what black people need to reach full employment. He says that Joe Biden is going to raise taxes. Guess what, black people? You're going to get $5,000 more after-tax income under a Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration. You're going to see a $650 average tax cut. But what the Republicans understand is that if you're

explaining, you're losing. So what you do is you give people these propaganda tidbits, something that fits in a graphic, something that fits in a meme, and you give other degenerate, low IQ, but rich and influential black people a platform to get out there and spread your propaganda's message. Because they're not critical thinkers. Because they're rich. Somebody said I lied about Ice Cube getting PPP money. No, he got one point access. It's $1.6 million. You can look it up. You can Google it. And so you have these folks that are going to regurgitate very easy things to do. Almost every single person that I encounter on social media

that calls themselves being for Donald Trump regurgitate that he got criminal justice reform done. That's a lie. And they regurgitate that he's good for, he's going to invest in Black businesses, even though 41% of Black businesses have closed under Donald Trump and he's not going to do a damn thing about it. And so if you guys want to let little Wayne,

the one who says, I'm rich, motherfucker, and my bitches love me, long as my bitches love me, represent you and walk your ass off the plank, then that's on you. But do not be fooled by this propaganda and this stupidity, especially when it's against your interests. Because I'm sure everybody watching this views $5,000 more after taxes in their bank account. Lil Wayne don't give a damn about that. For your black life. And Erica, here's the deal. There are people who actually use their brains, who take the time to actually do research.

The commons of the world, the John Legends of the world, the Kerry Washingtons of the world. You see what Snoop is out there doing. Shaq has talked about voting for the first time. He did an event the other day for the Biden campaign. And here's my deal. Here's my deal. Lil Wayne, if you want to endorse Donald Trump, go ahead.

But don't sit here and think we stupid, Erica, by saying that the platinum plan is going to help black people. How in the hell is something one page? One page. Because the first sheet ain't nothing but a cover sheet. Okay?

And again, and I said it. Lil Wayne don't go on ESPN don't go on Fox Sports bring your ass here and talk to black people and let's go over line by line see here's my challenge

to you Lil Wayne since you sat down with Donald Trump bring your ass here with no codeine, no purple drink, and I'm going to go line by line. We're going to start

with the top line. We're going to start with the top line, Lil Wayne, and we're going to go line by line. And I want you to explain to black people how Trump's so-called platinum plan is going to help

black people. Line by line, Lil Wayne. Now, I advise you to read that damn thing first. Because what you don't want to do, Erica, you don't want to come over here with a long-ass pause when I hit you with a question. I was going to say, you know, if he's out of a lean-induced coma to put together a coherent sentence, congratulations to you, Roland, and to the RMU family.

You know, the other kind of disheartening thing about this, you know, people making these endorsements, that they do have large platforms. And there are these folks that do follow behind, love to retweet, quote, treat, and then say these are the reasons that they're not going to engage in the process. But, you know, once you kind of put your phone away, once you put down Instagram, Twitter, all of these different mediums of social media, you have to deal with your real life. And so I hope that nobody is wet enough to anybody who, you know, music can be the soundtrack of our lives, but the artists are people. And so I hope that nobody is wed seriously through this virtual world to an

artist, to an entertainer whose job is to entertain, into actually throwing away your future. And they'll be a little bit more protective because they'll have the money to protect them for quite some time, but they'll still be black. So I think kind of like the moral of the story and all this, Recy read the tweet, these people have told you who you are. This man has said that he was an alien years ago so that now he's back into human being form

and now he's meeting with the son of a Klansman, that that is supposed to be how encouraging to people. I think that this is the opportunity for people to really just understand, you know, there is this entertainment world that folks live in, and then there's the real world. The real world is this. COVID cases are going to be increasing in this third wave because people are going to have to stay at the house. And we know that we have a lot of homes that are multi-generational homes. We have the holidays coming up. There are people that are still being evicted, having their utilities shut off, and people who are, in fact, losing their homes. There are still people who are unemployed, underemployed, and that do not have anything

coming from the federal government by way of unemployment benefits. There are kids who are forced to go to school, and those conditions are not the best conditions. And we've learned that our children are dying at a significant rate than white children from COVID. We have all of these different things going on, and that anybody would allow an entertainer into their mind to take away the very thing that's going to help build a better future for them and their family, I think is really kind of silly and ridiculous. So, you know,

turn off the little Wayne, use these next four days to really focus on what in the hell do you want to see different for you and your family and exercise the process, which is to do that. And that one process for us right now is voting. Greg, I do not criticize entertainers for using their platforms. What I criticize is when you're not informed. Look, Joseph Phillips, who played on The Cosby Show in the movie Strictly Business, is a black conservative. All right?

Joseph Phillips actually reads stuff. Now, we might disagree on some policies, but I don't think he's stuck on stupid. He actually read read stuff. Now, we might disagree on some policies, but I don't think he's stuck on stupid. He actually read some stuff. Again, when I talk to the likes of Chuck D, when I talk to Common,

I talk to John Legend, when I talk to Kerry Washington, when I talk to Jennifer Lewis, when I talk to Sam Jackson, when I talk to Denzel and Will Smith, I mean, these are all black entertainers who actually are learning

about the issues. I'm not going to name the brother, but a member of a major singing group sent me a text saying last week, hey man, I want to talk because there's some stuff I want to ask you about. Today, Bill Bellamy FaceTimed me saying, hey, Ro, man, I got some questions for you as well.

See, what I appreciate about a number of black entertainers who I interface with is that they call first before they run out and say something because they say, I might not have all the details. One brother literally said, Hey, Roland, can you send me the platinum plan? I said, well, I can see you that one sheet. Cause that's all it is. But see, Greg, that's the piece there. And see, when you just throw stuff out there, and Trump really does think black men are stupid. He really thinks by saying, well, Cube helped us with the platinum plan. And then Jared Kushner comes out and talks about how black folks got to want to be successful. You can sit your ass down. And then when you talk about stuff like this here,

and again, the issue is not, oh, I met with Trump. The issue is, you are endorsing trash, and you trying to sit here and think we gonna believe it because you dressed like Steve Urkel. Come on, Greg.

Rolling. Trump got what he wanted, it was the photograph. And, you know, and the hip hop community that made Donald Trump a hero while he was calling for the death of the Central Park Five should reconsider the fact that, you know, stupid then and stupid now. Yeah, I said it.

So, but, you know, in the case of our young brother there, the one not so young anymore, I suppose, Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., we's the F, baby. The F stands for fatuous, silly, irrelevant. See, I understand what's going on here. I'm glad you had Cynthia Wallace on because that sister's running for Congress in a district, as you say, the courts helped redraw. And in that North Carolina case that Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas and Kavanaugh

tried to get the injunction counting any votes that come in after November the 3rd in North Carolina passed and that they preserve so they can bring it back around and maybe throw all those ballots out once their handmaid joins them and gets a chance to read the things.

These white people have leaders that we can question their intelligence, but they're not entertainers. Meanwhile, this young brother, you know, Brother Carter, was born, what, about an hour maybe, hour and 10 minutes away from the place Baton Rouge, where the mayor, Adrian Perkins, has the chance to get in a runoff. Another person recently, I'm glad you brought him up, because Chuck Schumer seemed to stumble over his name as well. But instead of looking at the place that he is born from and represents,

and say, can I help this brother out in his local politics? Let me tell them maybe we can get in this runoff and maybe some of these people in Louisiana and New Orleans, some of my homies will go out and vote. And by the way, now it's too late to mail any ballots. Walk them in because I'm telling you those three cases, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina, as we said, they are setting it up so they can throw out all the votes that come in after November the 3rd, but instead of going to Perkins and Baton Rouge, we said, baby, goes

to see Donald Trump because his only reason he's there is himself. And our problem, finally, is that we be listening to ball players and entertainers, not that they can't have opinions, but if they can't have opinions,

but if they're going to listen to any of them, let them be finally like a brother from Lumberton, North Carolina, whose family is from Lumberton, North Carolina, who was born and raised in New Jersey. A brother who said the artist has to use her or his craft to promote the struggle of their people, and that would be Paul

Robeson from Robeson County, North Carolina, one of the three counties in North Carolina whose vote usually mirrors whatever the presidential election is going to be. We're in serious times now. So, fatuous people need to be ignored. And let me go ahead and close

it out this way, because first of all, I got comedian Lou Nail up next, a sister who's talking about how Hollywood black folks there are aligning when it comes to moving folks to vote. And they are talking about policies, policies. Let me close with this here, Greg, because I think this is also important when we talk about entertainers weighing in and speaking a policy, I need every black person who's watching to understand what I'm about to say. I'm going to give y'all 15 seconds. I need every black person who's listening and watching to understand what I'm about to say. If your mainstream media diet and your black media diet feeds you more entertainers talking policy than policy experts who are black talking policy. Yo ass need to turn the station. No question.

Show me how many times CNN, MSNBC, Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, how many times is Brad Pitt speaking for white folks? Come on now. Show me how many times is George Clooney speaking for white America? Now I know

MSNBC has Michael Moore on there a whole lot because he's there speaking for white folks in Michigan. But please show me where they bring all these white entertainers and put them in the chair to have conversations about criminal justice reform, economics, housing, black maternity. How many times? I'll tell you why. Because it is designed for them to have folk entertain us and not inform us. See, they actually believe, and then black media, the city ones, then take that,

and they go, well, ain't nobody gonna watch if we don't have some entertainers here to come on the show and dance and sing. No. When white folks are talking policy,

they have Nobel laureates, economists, policy makers, members of Congress, folks with think tanks. That's what they have. But what they'll do to black folks is feed us an entertainer

thinking that's who we following. And if you also black and you make comments such as we are going to be led in the future by entertainers, you done lost your mind. And let me be real clear.

I know lots of people in entertainment. I am not begrudging or criticizing what they do. But there was a reason I asked Ice Cube the question, where were you doing the primary? There's a reason I asked him the question, where were you before George Ford was being killed? And he actually gave the answer I expected. He said, I was doing what I do.

Which means when you're a singer, your ass sing. If you're an actor, your ass act. If you're on Broadway, your job is to be on Broadway. If you are somebody who's a dancer, your job is to dance. Harry Belafonte knew what his job was. He knew he wasn't the one to lead the march. He said, I'm here to help you, Dr. King. Dick Gregory came off the stage in activism,

but Dick Gregory also understood what his role was. James Brown knew what his role was. Barry Gordy knew what his role was. Diane Carroll knew what her role was. Sidney Poitier knew what his role was. They said, our job is to amplify the movement.

Our job is to help fund the movement. Our job is to help King and A. Philip Randolph and Bob Rustin and Abernathy and Dorothy Height and Fannie Lou Hamer and Septima Clark and Diane Nash. Our job is to help them. them but black america there's no way in hell that black america is going to be led to freedom by black entertainers because that is not what they are designed for they are designed to help and amplify yet if we fall for the okie doke if we allow mainstream media to somehow say, no, they speak for you. If I want to talk black economics, I'm talking to Dr. William Spriggs. If I want to talk about black women and money, I'm going to talk to Dr. Julian Malvo. If I want to talk about what's

happening with COVID, I'm going to talk to Dr. Ebony Hilton. You notice I just named three folks with doctor before they name. Not Leo before they name. Not Killer before they name. Not Ice before their name. But doctor before their name. See, what I'm talking about is at some point, we have got as black folks to learn to say, I'm going to need y'all to take a

seat and let me hear from the experts and then we're going to follow the expert testimony and then say what we're going to do. See, here's the whole deal. I can't fix no damn car. I don't even like getting the tires

rotated. My wife like doing that stuff car i don't even like getting the tires rotated my wife like doing that stuff i don't okay i don't know what the hell a front tire and that tire i don't know what they do you know why i take it to the doggone place and say do what y'all do all change i don't know the sticker says time to take it in. That's what you do. But guess what? I went to Home Depot. I went to Home Depot. Y'all, this true story. There was a pipe that was in our house in Texas under the sink,

and my wife was fixing it because that ain't what I do. Y'all can hate all y'all want to. I ain't fixing a damn thing. That is not the gift that God gave me. So she left somewhere with my sister. So I went to. I ain't fixing a damn thing that is not the gift that God gave me. So she left somewhere with my sister. So I went to Home Depot. I said, man, look, I got to cook, so this thing ain't right. I go to Home Depot. And I

go into Home Depot, and Homeboy says, well, you need this kind of pipe. And so I get this kind of pipe. He then said, he said, well, he told me you need a hacksaw. I said, what's a hacksaw? He goes, you don't know where the hacksaw is? I said, motherfucker, no. I said, what's a hacksaw? He goes, you don't know where the hacksaw is? I said, motherfucker know.

I said, that ain't what I do. I said, if you want to know how to start a newspaper, if you want to know how to shoot some video, if you don't know how to edit a radio, then you call me and show me what a goddamn hacksaw is. That's exactly what I said. Because that's it. I know what I do.'s exactly what I said. Because that's

I know what I do. I know what I do. I have read a lot of history, but I'm not going to walk in Greg Carr's class and say, Greg, I need you to take a seat. I'm going to teach your class today. How arrogant

can you be if you take that position? So I need black folks to understand that if we are going to move forward as a people, we are going to have to have the discipline to listen to the people who do what they do best, not folk who all of a sudden decided to take pen to paper and to have a meeting and want to call somebody else. No, that ain't what you do. Okay? See, that's how we move forward.

Now, I know some of y'all might be saying, man, you hate. No, let me be clear. I ain't hating on Q. I ain't hating on Lil, what's his name? I ain't hating on no entertainer. What I am hating on is when we as a people allow folk who are simply and grossly unqualified to speak on certain issues and to lead us down a path when they don't even have a compass to lead us to the promised land. Whoa, the day we as black folks turn our backs on experts, turn our backs on experts.

If my ass is lost in the jungle, trust me, I'm a listen to the person who's been in a gated community, who likely has never voted, who cannot articulate or break down the platinum plan, because the only platinum they know is a platinum record sale. That's who I'm not going to listen to and follow when it comes to our people. Yes. I just want to go ahead and break that down. Amen. Rishi, Erica, Dr. Greg Carr i appreciate uh y'all been on the show

uh next is a comedian lunel uh we're gonna bring her up uh after this break because lunel is doing her part lunel ain't trying to be a policy expert lunel is trying to simply encourage folk to get involved in activism she's next on on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin. Holla! You are watching Roland Martin, and I'm on his show today, and it's what, huh?

You should have some cue cards. Hey, what's up, y'all? This your boy Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! Hey, what's up, everybody? It's Godfrey, the funniest dude on the planet. Ha ha ha.

I'm Israel Houghton. Apparently the other message I did was not fun enough. So this is fun. You are watching. Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered. See, I'm so glad my next guest is here. She is a comedian, Lou Nail. She is always, she's funny, but she's not just focused on being funny.

She also understands the condition of the world that we're in, what is happening in our society. And so I welcome her back to the show. Lunell, how you doing? Hi, Roland. How are you? I'm doing good. Last night we had Shirley Ralph on the show, and she was talking about activism.

She was talking about a proposition there in California. She was talking about her and her and her activism for you in this in this age. And when we're seeing folks want to get engaged, I want to get your thoughts on what I just said, what I just talked about. Again, the roles that we play, like, for instance, I mean, I think I'm funny, but I ain't no damn comedian. I ain't trying to do what you do. I'm going to let you do what you do. Yeah, I wish you would stop trying to do what I do, actually. Oh, look at you.

See? Look at you. Well, the thing, what I, I heard everything because I've been here for 45 minutes waiting. And what I would urge you to do. Oh, now you're throwing shade? I heard everything because I've been here for 45 minutes waiting. And what I would urge you to. Oh, you're throwing shade? A little bit because I just had knee surgery. So, you know, I'm a little bit of a pain. I don't know why they call you that early.

Well, anyway, I'm here. Go ahead. Go ahead, darling. so go ahead go ahead darling what i would urge you to do though would be to renege your invitation to little wayne because then it becomes less about the issues and more about proving that little wayne is a fool and out of his league and then that's just like you know kids playing jacks you know what I'm saying? I don't think that deserves the airtime. No, actually it wouldn't. No, no, actually it wouldn't.

Excuse me? Now, here's what I would do. Here's what I would do, Lunell. No, seriously. I wouldn't. A lot of people thought that I was going to get into Ice Cube. No. First of all, I wanted the background information on how to hold it.

But there's a difference between Ice Cube and Lil Wayne. No, no, no, no. I understand that. I totally understand that. Ice Cube has been married, man, for 30 years plus. He's never done, you know, scissor. He doesn't have bitches. You know, and Lil Wayne is just the opposite of that.

So they're not really in the same league, even though they're talking the same jargon right now. You know what I mean? Here's what I would do with Lil Wayne, Lunell. I feel you, but here's what I would do with Lil Wayne. I would say,

this is what I would do. I would say, Lil Wayne, you says the Platinum Plan is going to help Black America. How? Let's walk through and tell me how. But do you really think he deserves that airtime when you could be talking to, like, Issa Rae or Ava DuVernay or somebody else? No, no, no, no. No, we can do both. Because, see, here's the piece.

Here's why that's important. The reason why that's important, because I hear that a lot of people say, why are you talking so-and-so? Because I also think it's important when somebody comes out and they make a statement like that and you go, okay, let's understand your knowledge of such plan. Because here's what I also recognize, Lunell, there are people who will see what he said and they will then go, well, see, he broke it down until, and my experience has been when I've been, have talked to folk, they say, well, man, I thought so-and-so man had it going on until I saw you talking to them. And I realized they weren't as smart as I thought they were. I think it's important for us to challenge folk who step out there on the messages that they give. That's why I would still do it. It wouldn't be

a tat for tat, a tit for tat. It would be, no, walk me through. You tell me. Let's go through the plan. What was your conversation? You said y'all... Again, I'm not going to assume what he would say. I would say, I'm going to give you

the shot to explain it. Now, if you can't, that's on you. He has plenty of other platforms besides yours. His Instagram Live probably has more followers than yours and mine together. So let him do his thing. But there should be questions. And we're going to move on. But he still can be questioned.

I'm happy to be here to, you know, be part of the entertainment and sports community or raising their voices to fight against the ban on affirmative action in California. That's what I'm here to do. And I want people to vote. So that we can help dismantle systematic and structural racism, you understand, in hiring and in college and stuff like that. Let's talk about that. Earlier in the show, Recy actually referenced the Bakke decision. It was a 1978 Supreme Court decision that really began the dismantling of affirmative action. War Connolly moved a proposition, led a proposition in California and also impacted that as well. And the reality is that with those different rulings, we have seen the negative impact of how black and brown folks have been frozen out of higher education in California, making it even more difficult.

And for those folks who say, well, no, we are all equal. No, we're not equal on the front end. So don't act like we equal on the back end. There's eight states and California is one. I happen to live in California. I'm in Texas right now while I'm talking to you, but I live in California. There's eight states that outlaw policies that promote equal opportunity for everybody. It's against the law. That's ridiculous. A measure on the California ballot, Prop 16, helps fight against that. We need affirmative action. It's a shame that we need it. That's the problem. It's a shame that we have to have things like affirmative action because there is not liberty and justice for all. In education, hiring, or anything.

Absolutely. Absolutely. But beyond the various media appearances, what else are entertainers and others doing to drive this home? Are y'all doing direct messaging, text, things along those lines to voters there? What other things are being done to ensure they vote appropriately when it comes to this in California? I think there are plenty of entertainers that are making their own personal social media platforms, a political window for their followers, so to speak, to peek into. We're doing our own commercials.

We're doing our own posting. You know, our publicists aren't running everything for us right now. We're doing it ourselves. We're speaking out. We're doing it ourselves. We're speaking out. We're showing up at rallies. I know that I did a lot of that earlier this year. And we're reaching out to each other. Shirley, Ralph, and I are friends, and we have spoke, I know that we have a chance to meet like we used to back in the days when Dr. King was doing speeches

and we're having little small gatherings here and there, and we're networking. We're networking and we're talking to people and using our platform because we know that this is the most important election that has probably happened in my life. And as much as we are having to pick between the lesser of two evils, neither candidate is the perfect candidate, in my opinion. We're just picking the best one for this time. And we know we have to get the one that is in the White House now who is trying to say too much, too little,

too late. The one who did a photo op with Kim Kardashian to let Alice out of jail, because I think that's the only reason that he did it, to get Kim up in the White House with him, the one who has prompted, started, and reinforced this race war that we're also in, because we're not just in a political fight, we're in a social and a fight for our physical lives as well, we have to vote him out. Then I have a plan for the whole political structure.

I say, vote him out, let's vote Biden in. He worked for two years, and then Biden fakes a stroke. Then Kamala becomes the president of the United States of America. And she works the other two years. Then he miraculously recovers. He comes back in the office, gets voted back in the office with Tom Laszlo's running mate again, fakes a stroke again, and then she finishes out the other four years. Lunell, that's way too convoluted. So that's way too convoluted.

Let me get close to Biden. It could happen. Well, first of all, you're talking about faking it. Faking it. Well, you think I should wish this coke on him? I'm not going to do that. No, don't wish any of that. Just simply say man, do four years or serve eight years

or whatever. She can run after that. Tell folks again the proposition. Let's get real. You really want to see a race war? Let a black female run for the president of the United States of America. If they're killing us now, they will slaughter us then. Well, guess what?

They better suck it up because it's going to happen. Well, Mel, tell folks about the proposition again, how you want them to vote. Prop 16 on the California ballot is reinstates affirmative action. It eliminates discrimination in state contracts

and hiring and in college admissions. And, um, you vote yes on Prop 16. If you want to know more about it, you can go to voteyesonprop16.org. Okay. And then, um, look for me in the upcoming episode of Ghost Book 2 and in the Coming to America, which comes out December 18th on Amazon, which we're so happy about that. All right, then. All right, crazy little nails. Always good seeing you. Enjoy my home city of Texas. And you get well from your surgery.

We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, if you want to support Roller Martin Unfiltered, please do so by supporting us and joining our Bring the Funk fan club. You can give via cash out, dollar sign RM Unfiltered. You also have paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered.

You can also support us on vmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered. Send a money order to NuVision Media, NU Vision Media, 816 2525 K Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 2006. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. Folks, don't forget, Sunday, if you're in Jackson, Mississippi, I want to see you out at the Mike Espy Get Out the Vote rally. We'll be live streaming that rally in Jackson, Mississippi. And on Tuesday, we will be having massive election night coverage.

This is the only place y'all want to go. Man, the list of guests we are going to have are going to blow you out. I'm going to announce those on Monday's show. So you definitely want to check it out. Plus, we're going to be simulcasting our coverage on iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia's Black Information Network radio stations. And so that's it for me, folks. Again, shout out to Carl Davis for sending me this vote shirt for my high school, Jack

Yates High School in Houston, the mighty J.Y. Lyons. And y'all do notice that these are the J.Y. colors. And what are these colors right here? Roland Martin unfiltered? Yeah, because I went to the Madison School of Communications. That's what put me in a position to do what I do right now.

So, that's how we do this thing. Again, I want to thank Greg, Reesey, and Eric for being on our show today. Thank you so very much, folks. I'll see y'all later. Y'all take care. Ha! Ha! I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1 Taser Incorporated on the

iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports.

This kind of starts that in a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree.

It's time for skills to speak for themselves. This is an iHeart Podcast.