#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 10.29: NCAA to allow athletes to get paid; CBC pays tribute to Rep. Conyers; NC district map tossed

Episode Date: October 31, 2019

10.2919 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: NCAA to allow athletes to profit from their names, images and likenesses; CBC pays tribute to Rep. John Conyers; NC court tosses the state's gerrymandered congressional district map; The National Organization for Black Law Enforcement Executives stands with Chicago Police Department Superintendent, Eddie Johnson in the face of Trump's attacks; The Dove Awards has issued an apology to Kirk Franklin after he threatened a boycott; It's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month...we'll tell you what black women need to know. - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Life Luxe Jazz Life Luxe Jazz is the experience of a lifetime, delivering top-notch music in an upscale destination. The weekend-long event is held at the Omnia Dayclub Los Cabos, which is nestled on the Sea of Cortez in the celebrity playground of Los Cabos, Mexico. For more information visit the website at lifeluxejazz.com. Can't make it to Los Cabos for the Life Luxe Jazz Fest? Get your live stream pass at https://gfntv.com/ #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Ebony Foundation | Home by the Holiday Home by the Holiday aims to reunite Black and Latino families separated by bail, while challenging racial injustice and mass incarceration. For more info visit https://www.homebytheholiday.com/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. self. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. 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 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 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. 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. Today is Tuesday, October 29th, 2019. Roland Martin and Bill Tiddick broadcasting live from Indianapolis, Indiana, where Stewart's Electric Series is taking place. Stewart Brothers Electric Series is taking place.

Great panel, State of Black America. I'll tell you more about that later in the show. But first off, NCAA. They're here in Indianapolis and make the decision allowing four athletes to sell their likeness. We'll explain and talk to the California State Senator, one who co-sponsored

this bill that caused the NCAA's reaction today. Also, the Congressional Black Caucus. They remember Congressman John Conyers, who died on Sunday at the age of 99. He pronounced bloke, and she also, of course, has words of encouragement for the Conyers family. We'll be discussing that on the show as well.

In North Carolina, three judges say the congressional district's there. Political gerrymandering, they must be redrawn. This caused the Democrats to increase their control in the U.S. House? Also on today's show, the double wards. Apologize to Kirk Franklin. He says, though, they still have not done enough to repair the damage by editing out his social justice comments. And also, it is breast cancer. We're in response.

We'll speak to that critical issue that has happened to American women. Folks, it's time to bring in the talk. I'm Roland Martin on the filter. Let's go. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the spook, 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. And it's rolling. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's broke, he's fresh, he's real. The best you know, he's rolling, Martel. Now. Martel. A big decision today by the NCAA.

They are allowing athletes to actually profit off of their likeness. This follows California signing a law that makes it possible for athletes to do so. This has been a contingent issue for decades as NCAA programs have made billions off of athletes, but they were not able to make money off of their own likeness. You might remember Ed O'Bannon, former star of UCLA, who sued the NCAA over making money off of his likeness on video games, but the players not benefiting. Well, California moved forward a bill signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom and allowed for them to do so.

About 10 other states were considering a similar bill, including Florida. The NCAA realized they needed to take action, and so they decided today to actually move forward to allow this to happen. Joining us right now is Stephen Bradford, the California state senator who actually co-sponsored that bill, and also Taylor Branch, who authored an e-book called The Cartel, The Rise and Fall of the NCAA. I want to start first with Senator Bradford. This is, of course, surprising to lots of people, but the pressure of your bill and that of other states following suit, they called the NCAA to realize

they could no longer stop the momentum when it comes to allowing athletes to pocket all of their life. Thank you for having me today and following up on this issue. Yeah, the tide was clearly evident by the NCAA's actions today. We often say so goes California, so goes the nation, and I think the date demonstrated that. We had fought long and hard to address this issue, and it's nothing that's new to California or this nation as we talk about fair treatment to athletes by the NCAA, I should say. And I'm appreciative of your attention and effort in exposing this, not only after SB206, but being a champion well before this. So thank you for having me today. And what, now granted, now,

if you look at what they decided, there's steel or kink that have to be worked out. There are a couple of federal bills that are going to be filed. Now you have, of course, State Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina. As a result of this action, he now wants to say, well, if athletes will do this, they should start taxing the scholarship.

We'll see how far that goes. But let's be clear. There are people who are angry with what California did, with what you did, because they have been profiting off of the bodies of the athletes, especially black athletes, for decades. Without a doubt. And the NCAA, this won't impact the NCAA or the university whatsoever. This will just allow that young student athlete, be it male or female, to hire an agent, hire an attorney, and own their name, likeness, and image as any other student or any other individual can in America. Even if you're a scholarship, say, music student, I'm full of

scholarship, you can teach music lessons. But if you're a scholarship athlete, you can't teach swimming, football, baseball, whatever the case were, your area of expertise, you can't benefit off those talents. So this is just allowing them to be able to own their image like anyone else here in the United States of America. And it follows suit of what we've allowed Olympic athletes to do for now in the last 20 years. I want to bring in Taylor Branch. He authored a book years ago called The Cartel, Inside the Rise and Fall of the NCAA.

We had him on my show, Washington Watch, on TV1 when that book came out. Taylor, you were planning to write on something else, but Watch, on TV1 when that book came out. Taylor, you were planning to write on something else, but then when you begin to look at this thing, you begin to realize how the NCAA, frankly, was abusing student-athletes, making billions of dollars. And in fact, the guy who led the NCAA for years admitted this was a faulty system when it came to the so-called student athlete, which really wasn't even, as you wrote, was a term that a lawyer came up to defend the NCAA in a lawsuit. That's true. Oh, that's absolutely right, Roland. And it's really good that the senator and California are getting involved because this is at bottom a constitutional

issue. One of the great principles established by the Constitution is that people shouldn't be a judge in their own case. And the NCAA is demanding the right to be the sole judge of who gets to keep the money generated by the athletes. And not surprisingly, they are deciding to keep it themselves and say that the athletes can't have any. So I think the fact that California passed this law is a great step forward, but I do want to caution people. The NCAA will hang on to this money as long as it can, and there's a lot of smoke and mirrors, even in the statement that's done today. I'm looking at it, and it said that they'll do it provided that there's a distinction between collegiate and professional opportunities and that student athletes can't get—it's

not permissible to get compensation. So they're saying that they want any benefits from the use of the likenesses to be educational benefits, not in the form of actual compensation like 14 other 14 million college undergraduates who have jobs outside the classrooms get paid and nobody regulates them except these athletes. So I want to congratulate the senator for breaking this down in California. But I want to caution people that, frankly, I think the dam is breaking. And this action by the NCAA is going to make people only angry because it's not what they're trying to make everybody think it is. And Senator Bradford, at this particular point, they saw, of course, that Florida was moving forward and some other states. And just to what Taylor said, these states, their state laws

will be governing athletes in their state. Now, I want to be sure. But also, let me be clear. The bill that you put forth impacts state universities or all college athletes, whether they go to private colleges or public colleges? It's all colleges that participate in NCAA here in California. And so to what Taylor's point, is it important for people to understand that the state law, frankly,

overrides whatever the NCAA comes up with. That's correct. Absolutely. Roland, people need to remember the NCAA has never had any legal sanction. It's a private agreement among the universities. Exactly. That's why I called it a cartel. It's a classical cartel.

They agree that they're not going to pay their labor. So it doesn't have any legal sanction whatsoever. But finally, states are beginning to address this injustice through state law, and it's a good benefit. We just have to be careful because there will be smoke and mirrors to try to conceal what they're doing and make us think that everything's all right. I totally agree with that. And we don't think by no means that this is the end of it, but I think it's a great start and we need to continue to have the dialogue and making sure as this moves forward, we address all those concerns because, yes, the NCAA is just not going to lay down and just give us what we want. But again, we saw they saw the tide, I should say, was shifting when you had 12 other states who already Cedric Richmond out of Louisiana and Mark Walker out of North Carolina, who had already introduced legislation on the federal level.

So I think, again, that pressure moved the NC2A to do something. When we initially introduced this bill in February, they stated they were going to put together a task force and look at it. When the bill was heard in August and early September, they still hadn't put together a task force and look at it. When the bill was heard in August and early September, they still hadn't put together a task force to look at it. So we kind of forced our hand to move. But we're surprised they moved to this degree so quick. Senator Stephen Bradford, I appreciate it. Taylor Branch, thank you so very much.

Thank you very much, Roland. Thank you. Thank you, Senator. Good luck. Thank you. I appreciate it. I want to bring in my panel here. Joining me right now is Kelly Bethea, communication strategist, Malik Abdul, Republican strategist, and also Dr. Jason Nichols, Department of African-American Studies at University of Maryland. Jason, I want to start with you. This is a huge issue. As Taylor said, there's some other things that have to be worked out. NCAA is going to try to try to uh frame this to their benefit but the bottom line is here they're not going to be able to get around state and federal law. No that's absolutely correct and I think it's a great thing I as you mentioned I remember the Ed O'Bannon uh situation and him wanting to profit off of his own likeness. We also have to remember the mid-teens of the 90s with Jalen Rose and the others

and them having to actually cover themselves up with T-shirts because they felt that people were using their likeness and them not profiting, them not being able to put gas in their cars or eat dinner at night. So I think this is a really important step forward for athletes all over. I hope that this that the things continue. I did hear what Taylor Branch said, and I'm a big fan of Taylor Branch for the books he's written. But I heard what he said. And I think we do have to be cautious. But of course, you know, federal and state law certainly supersedes what the NCAA says. Kelly, what you're dealing with here is billions of dollars.

The NCAA does not want athletes making money. What this is about is a star athlete being able to make his own money or her money off of signing their autographs, signing their jerseys. And look, it comes to demand. If nobody out there wants to pay for their likeness, they don't pay for them. But if you're a star athlete, there's an opportunity for you to get paid.

I never understood exactly why that wasn't the case in the first place, especially when the decision was made to monetize office student athletes because in amateurism- Easy, cheap labor. Well, yeah, I mean mean i i understand you know that was a rhetorical question but um to your point this i don't see anything wrong with this

from the athlete's point of view again um as we talked about this a couple weeks ago this is more or less um indentured servitude before this uh um policy just came into play today um these students like tuition isn't going to cut it you know a free, like tuition isn't going to cut it. You know, a free ride to college isn't going to cut it when these colleges and universities are making money way after these students are either graduated or just not in their program anymore. So kudos to the NCAA for opening their eyes

and actually taking the right step in the right direction. Malik, the real issue is this here. If you are a music scholarship, if you are a music scholarship at Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Alabama, or any one of these universities, you can go out, make money, offer your musical talent. What the NCAA says is that you cannot make money off of your musical talent. What the NCAA says is that you cannot make money off of your athletic talent. In fact, it even says that

if I was a journalism major and played basketball and a newspaper or a magazine or a blog or a website wanted to pay me to write a journal on the season, the NCAA would say that is illegal because I'm

using my athletic talents to be able to make money. What Senator Bradford said is what's good for the music scholarship student should be good for the athlete. Absolutely. And this is something that, you know, of course, it's been a long time in the making. And surprise, surprise that the NCAA actually, you know, they did something that a lot of people didn't think that they were going to do. Now, we know and that you use the best analogy and talking about the music student and the things

that someone on a music scholarship would be able to do. You know, that's probably one of the best analogies out there. So people can really understand the depth of what it is that we're talking about. One of the things that, you know, I'm happy, you know, this is a great thing that athletes now will be able to make money. And as you say, you know, it's no guarantee that, you know, they're going to make money, but giving them the opportunity to do so, I definitely appreciate that. One of the things that I was thinking about, and I said, I think the last time I was on this show, in light of the very well-received article from Jamel Hill talking about players going to HBCU, I do kind of wonder whether or not if that would be the trajectory, whether or not people will actually go towards HBCUs now

because they have an opportunity to go to one of the big tier schools and make a lot of money. But overall, I think it's a great thing. Well, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob Lani is look, players are going to the major schools to be on television. That's what it boils down to be in front of those millions of audience and to go into the NFL. That's what's happening here. But this is about, again, if somebody out there wants a player to be able to sign autographs and pay them 20 bucks, now they can actually make some money, but we'll see, as Taylor Brand said, what happens with the NCAA rules. Folks, let's go to our next story. The Congressional Black Caucus last night took to the floor of the House to pay tribute to the longest serving African American serving in the U.S. House and U.N. Congress, Congressman John

Conyers, who died on Sunday at the age of 90. Here is what folks such as Congressman John Lewis had to say about the former dean of the House. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Congressman John Conyers. He was one of the 13 founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Karen Bass, and recognizing that he served for 53 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, making him one of the longest-serving House members in history and the first African American to hold the title of dean. Congressman Conyers was born in Detroit on May 16, 1929, the eldest of four sons of John and Lucille. He attended Detroit public schools and graduated from

Northwestern High School. After graduating, he served in the National Guard and then joined the U.S. Army. He was inspired by his friend Dr. Martin Luther King to run for office and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1964. His first hire was civil rights hero Rosa Parks. As a human rights and civil rights champion, Mr. Conyers opposed the death penalty and fought the police brutality, and he also led a co-sponsor for the voting rights of 1965. Mr. Conyers also assisted in helping in passing the Help America Vote Act, the Violence Against Women, the Motor Vehicle Bill, the Jazz Preservation Act, and the Martin Luther King Holiday Act. I want to enter into the record the statement by the Honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson in her

statement about the congressman. She said, I pay tribute to the life and legacy of a distinguished public servant and colleagues, John James Conyers Jr. who passed away this weekend and she asked that her colleagues join her in extending the sympathies to Congressman Conyers wife Monica Conyers son John Conyers the third and Carl Edward Conyers and all whom he influenced over the course of his life. May he rest in peace. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the young lady from Michigan. Well, you're still very young. For bringing us together to honor John Conyers, the former dean of the House of Representatives

and the co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus. John Conyers was born at a time when we needed someone to stand up, to speak up and speak out, and to get in the way of getting what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. As a matter of fact, John Conyers and Almighty placed the two of them here to work together. Before being elected to Congress, Mr. Conyers served in the Korean War and on the staff of Representative John Dingell. When the people of Michigan elected Mr. Conyers in 1964 he brought Congress to the front line of the Civil Rights Movement and he took civil rights, voting rights, labor rights, and human rights

to the United States Congress. John Conyers, perhaps more than any other member of Congress, he made trips over and over again to the South to identify with the struggle going on in the South. He came to Alabama, to Georgia, Mississippi, and other parts of the Deep South. Mr. Speaker, Representative Kanye was one of two members of Congress, both from Michigan, who voted on the original and every single reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. He could give us the backstory of every major law, from the Civil Rights Act of 1968 to a 20-year effort to establish a National Day of Service

honoring my friend and leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When Rosa Parks, a person who I got to know so well, was forced to leave her home state of Alabama after the Montgomery bus boycott, Mr. Conyers, more than anyone else, gave her a position on his staff and she was very proud and pleased to work in the office of John Conyers. She served in his district office for 23 years. The record should be clear. John Conyers loved music, but he loved jazz. He loved jazz more than any other form of music. He loved this institution and he dedicated his life to realizing the dream of what our nation could be. He was other people, and he was for other people.

On this difficult day, I offer my deepest condolences to his beloved wife, sons, family, and the people of Michigan who mourn his loss. May he rest in peace and in power. Speaker Nancy Pelosi also released a statement last night. This is what she had to say. Chairman Conyers' life was lived in service to achieving true equality in America.

His leadership made a difference in the lives of countless Americans as a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and then as chairman of the Oversight Committee and chairman of the Judiciary Committee. His legislative leadership leaves a powerful legacy from his work to protect the right to the ballot box, to ensure the right of every American to affordable health care, and to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday.

May it be a comfort to Monica, their children, John and Carl, and the entire Conyers family that so many mourn their loss and are praying for them during this sad time. As I said yesterday, former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement as well. We have yet to hear from President Barack Obama about the life and legacy of Congressman John Conyers. Going to a break. When we come back, we'll talk about what's happening in North Carolina when it comes to political gerrymandering. Could this lead to Democrats expanding their lead in the House? Also, Dove, the Dove Awards, apologizes to Kirk Franklin, but they've still got some work to do.

All of that next on Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Indianapolis, site of the Stewart Lecture Series and their annual State of Black America conversation. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. series in their annual State of Black America conversation. subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. All right, family, it's almost time. The holiday season is my favorite time of the year. And whether you celebrate Thanksgiving, Ramadan, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or New Year's, this is when you think about spending time

with the people you love most. This is also the time to count your blessings and support those less fortunate and look at how you can have an impact on their lives. Well, I have the perfect opportunity for you to be a holiday hero and have a major impact on other families. Now, here's the deal. Right now, hundreds of thousands of Americans are sitting in jail without being convicted of a crime. Why? Because they lack the financial resources to pay their bail. Now, think about it. If you are arrested for any minor offense, you'd be taken directly to jail. If you don't have bail money, whether it's a few hundred or a few thousand dollars,

you will stay there until a court date is scheduled. That could be days, weeks, or even months. Now, America's bail system is broken and has created a two-tier system of justice, one for the rich and another for the poor. Folks, freedom should be free. And that's why the Ebony Foundation has partnered with the Bail Project and is sponsoring the Home Mother Holiday Campaign. With your help, the goal is to bail out 1,000 people by New Year's Day.

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All right, folks, let's talk about what happened in North Carolina, where judges in North Carolina have ruled against political gerrymandering, ordering new congressional maps to be drawn for the 2020 election. This, of course, is an issue that we have been covering for quite some time, as North Carolina is one of the most egregious states when it comes to this issue of partisan politics. Joining us right now is the head of Democracy NC, a group that has been also fighting these various issues, Tomas Lopez. Tomas is Director of Democracy North Carolina. Glad to have you back, sir. Great to be here. Looks like we finally created some headway when the Supreme Court ruled that they could not rule on political gerrymandering. They kicked it back to the states that opened the door for what is happening in North Carolina. You're in one of the places where, of course, Democrats have been able to break the stranglehold

on the state Supreme Court and been able to get some fairness in the court system there. Now we have judges ruling against North Carolina. Republicans are fighting this tooth and nail. They are desperate to hold on to power. They actually tried to draw the lines to even try to have a 10-3 advantage, and they said they couldn't figure out how to have an 11 to 2 advantage.

And they've been using, of course, in a lawsuit, using those very words against the Republicans. This decision by these judges, again, speaks to people having a fair shot at elections in your state. That's right, Roland. This is a really significant development. You know, what we've had in North Carolina since 2011 is systemic gerrymandering, first on the basis of race and then on the basis of political affiliation. Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court said, you know what, the U.S. Constitution doesn't say anything about this. We're kicking it to the states. And North Carolina, the courts have stepped up. So in September, a state court panel came out and said that North Carolina's state legislative districts violated the state constitution. And

just the other day, that same panel came out and said that the congressional districts violated North Carolina's own state constitution as well. And of course, when you talk about what this does is it makes it possible to break the stranglehold. Part of the problem in these southern states is that Republicans control both the House and the Senate in many cases, a majority proof, a super majority, if you will. And it has been really a more than a decade fight in North Carolina ever since President Obama won in 2008 to be able to break through in North Carolina. That's right, Roland. One of the things that you mentioned was that this has been going on for a decade. And when the legislature drew the maps where there was a deliberate partisan

gerrymander, and like you said, with those congressional maps, the legislator in charge of the process actually said, we are drawing these maps to favor Republican candidates because we believe that's better for the country. The reason they explicitly said that was because courts had already said that the previous maps that they had gerrymandered were unlawful because they had either what we call packed or cracked districts on the basis of race. So this is a long running story and this is a really important development. Again, so this is a great decision there. Hopefully we'll see some fairness and hopefully we'll see this spread to other states as well, because frankly, political gerrymandering makes no sense at all.

It is unfair across the board when you talk about Republicans and Democrats. But the reality is you have some cases where it happens with Democrats. But we really have seen this sort of severe political partisan gerrymandering by Republicans in control of places like Wisconsin, North Carolina and so many other states. Precisely. While there are instances where Democrats have drawn gerrymandered maps at points of Maryland, as an example, you look at places like Texas, Wisconsin, as examples of other states where this has been a real issue. What you have are situations where gerrymandering effectively dilutes individuals' voting powers

on the basis of either their race or their political affiliation. And what the court said was that this violated state protections for equal protection under the law, free elections under the law, and free speech and free association, that you can't discriminate against people on the basis of their viewpoint or for associating with people on the basis of their viewpoint. And that's what makes this ruling so powerful, because what you have here is a roadmap for potentially seeing similar rulings in other states. Tomas Lopez, Democracy North Carolina. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right. Thank you. I want to go to my panel real quick here. Malik, the bottom line is that this is a great decision for democracy. We should have fair elections all across this country.

And again, you had Republicans in North Carolina who said that they could not figure out how to make it an 11 to 2 Republican majority so that they had to settle for 10 to 3. And the Republican legislator who was in charge of that said, oh, I was just joking. This is a good day for the residents, voters in North Carolina. I think it's a good thing.

And I actually like the effort that's going around the country, specifically in places like Illinois, where I think there's about a group of about 23 or so organizations who are promoting the I think it's the something the Fair Map Amendment or something like that. And what that is is that they decided that what they wanted to do, they wanted a commission to actually choose the congressional district. And that commission would be inclusive of both Democrats and Republicans. So there are people all around the country who are looking at gerrymandering. And this is a good day for the residents of North Carolina, but I think this is something that will probably spread. I know the mayor and the governor of Illinois at this point are behind the new effort. So I think it's a great thing. Anytime that we can give people the option to vote and not suppress the vote, I think it's a great thing.

Not sure about that, Kelly. The only difference here is that you had the court system and breaking Republican stronghold on the court system on the state Supreme Court level and in other positions as well. The problem is, again, when Republicans have packed the bench said that this Republican heavy Supreme Court said that this is actually a state issue. And then the state said that, you know, North Carolina was wrong. So it kind of backfired on their end in terms of this strategy of packing the courts. I don't see any other reason for this rationale other than the fact that they're trying to hoard and conserve power on their end. But that's not what democracy is about. So kudos to the plan backfiring. Jason, you do talk about a commission, but in Michigan, they created one and the Republicans tried to overturn the will of the voters and, frankly, affect the budget of that commission

because they were not happy that a commission has been approved by a ballot measure in Michigan to draw their lines. Right. You know, across the country, we've had these issues with the church entering and trying to manipulate those. I agree with both Svetlana and Kelly and what they said. The federal government, the Supreme Court has already said that federal judges cannot get involved in this, that this is a state issue. And we're seeing how state judges and state courts are actually trying to make it so that people can actually vote.

And North Carolina is a battleground state. I think we're going to see these kinds of things when you're dealing with the census that's coming up in 2020. Redistricting is done by the party in power. So we really have to keep an eye on this, be ready to sue when we see things that are irregular. All right, folks, got to go to a break. When we come back, we'll talk about October

being Breast Cancer Awareness Month. That's next, Roland Martin Unfiltered. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real.

As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. All right, folks, Life, Luck, Jazz Experience taking place in Cabo, November 7th through the 11th. Of course, if you want to attend, go to lifeluxjazz.com L-I-F-E-L-U-X-E J-A-Z-Z dot com.

But if you cannot be in Cabo for those four days, 14 different amazing artists, then of course, you could live stream it. Get your live stream pass at G-F-N-T-V dot com. That's GFNTV.com. As I said, amazing artists,

Gerald Albright, Alice Bunyan, Kirk Whalum, Donna McClurkin, Shalaya, Roy Ayers. Man, it's going to be an unbelievable three-day extravaganza.

So I look forward to you participating. And again, get your live streaming pass to cover those three days, all 14 concerts. You'll be able to watch right here on your phone, on your iPad computer. It does not matter. Go to GFNTV.com.

That's GFNTV.com to get your live stream pass. All right, folks, welcome back. I'm here in Indianapolis at the Stuart Lecture Series, the State of Black America Annual Conversation. You might recall last year I also moderated the conversation. So looking forward to it tonight as well. This is October. It is, of course, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is an issue that affects women but also men.

You might recall that Matthew Knowles earlier this month announced that he has been diagnosed with breast cancer. It is an issue that affects African-Americans more so than anyone else. When you talk about those numbers, black women get breast cancer at a slightly lower rate than white women, yet they are 42 percent more likely to die of the disease. It is a huge issue against for many of us. Joining us right now is Ricky Fairley, president and thought leader for Dove Marketing and herself, a breast cancer survivor. First of all, Ricky, I mentioned Matthew Knowles. There have been other African-American men, Ed Brook, former United States senator who has been impacted by breast cancer. And so when people think of this, they think of women being impacted, but men are impacted by breast cancer as well.

They are. Richard Rountree had breast cancer, but for men, it's only a 1% incidence rate for men. So it's a small number of men, but guess what, Roland? Black men die at three times the rate because they're not getting mammography. They're not getting the kind of care that white men get. And they're probably getting it at a later stage. So it's a big problem for black men to get it. Oh, absolutely. And the reason I wanted to say that it affects those black men, obviously, it affects black women more than anybody else, because we can't ignore it as if it doesn't exist. And so we talk about those disparities. What has been done to lower those disparities? Of course, the Affordable Care Act had a huge impact on the health of African-Americans.

Have we seen the result of increased detection as a result of African-Americans now being able to afford health care through the Affordable Care Act as opposed to before? Not really, and mammography has increased. So more women are getting mammograms, but what happens, what's happening in a lot of cases is you go to get your mammogram, you get a not so great result,

they call you back and say, okay, you need to come back in tomorrow to do some more diagnostic testing, and guess what, they go back and the MRI or the sonogram or whatever they need for diagnostic testing costs $2,000 or has a $4,000 copay. So they can't afford to do the rest of the testing to get checked to find out if they even really do have breast cancer, and so they don't do it. They forego it, and they die. That's one of the main things that's happening even with the diet.

So even though they're getting mammography free,'s one of the main things that's happening even with the dying. So even though they're getting mammography free, the rest of their testing isn't covered. And they have to pay for it. And so when you look at this conversation taking place among the Democratic Presidents of Canada, it's Medicare for all. What options do we have to provide folks being able

to get checked, to get screened? Because if I can afford a mammogram but can't afford the more rigorous test, and then all of a sudden to get screened, because if I can afford a mammogram, but can't afford the more rigorous test, and then all of a sudden I get breast cancer, says we're screwed. We're screwed. And we really need, the insurance needs to cover the whole diagnostic process, and then also the treatment process. Because even now, a lot of the chemotherapy drugs are coming in pill form. And so if you have some hospitalization you can go to the doctor you know like i have a port you can have the you know you

have chemo through the port but sometimes now you're getting a chemo in a pill which requires you to go to a pharmacist and you have to you know have a pharmacy plan and a drug plan to get those drugs and you can't afford it a pill could cost a thousand dollars or two thousand dollars and so you can't afford it so even once you get treated and you get the chemo, you know, you may not be able to afford the pill, which is crazy. We shouldn't have to worry about money with health care. And for the folks who are watching, what do you want them to do? What should they be actively involved in when it comes to this whole issue of pushing insurance companies to cover this. What kind of activism do you want to see?

Well, I work for an organization called Sisters Network Inc. We are the only national black breast cancer foundation, and we're run by survivors. And we are trying to basically raise money right now just to go to get legislation passed, to talk to our congresspeople, to help women out who are in treatment and can't afford the care right now. And we have a fund where people can kind of apply for money if you need your rent paid, if you need something paid for, to try to help them out in this sort of vacuum where we don't have care and we don't have the coverage that we need. Our website is sistersnetworkinc.org. So we're celebrating our

25th anniversary right now. If anyone wants to give us a donation, that would be great. But the money will go to good use because we're using it to work through our local legislators. We have 18 chapters across the country and also to help women who are in need. And that's really important to make sure our sisters are being treated properly. All right, Ricky Fairland, we certainly appreciate all the work that you are doing. Hopefully folks will reach out and contribute to the cause because we have to be willing to support our own. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Roland, so much. Take care. All right, folks, going to break right down. We come back. We're going to talk Kirk Franklin

and apology from Dove Awards. But is that enough? That's next on Roland forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. Alright, for the 50th Annual Dove Awards took place this year and did not suit well for Kirk Franklin. As we told you yesterday, he released a video blasting them and TBN for editing his comments where he spoke about the death

of Antiana Jefferson, shot by a former Fort Worth police officer. The Dove Awards, as it sits, responded apologizing to Kirk Franklin. This is the statement that they actually issued on yesterday on the heels of the 50th annual Dove Awards celebration. I want to thank everyone who came and helped us fulfill our mission to spread the gospel through music for all the world to see. And then they go on to explain their mission.

And they said, due to our broadcast window, we had to significantly end the Dove telecast to two hours, which aired Sunday, October 20th. In light of this, we understand that many were disappointed because there were so many memorable moments and noteworthy portions of acceptance speeches absent. Specifically, we were made aware of troubling concerns regarding the edit of Kirk Franklin's acceptance speech. At the request of Kirk's team, we held our response regarding those concerns until we were able to speak with Kirk privately, apologize directly and discuss resolutions to rectify this unfortunate issue. And so they go on and on and on with their statement. You can actually read it online.

But Kirk is not fully satisfied because they have not fully put things in place when it comes to what to do there. I want to pull in our panel right now. I want to start with you, Kelly. Look, my line here is that this is the second time this happened. It happened in 2016. Now it's happening in 2019. And Kirk Franklin said that ain't no coincidence that his speech where he talked about social justice and black folks being killed by police got cut. I'm not surprised by it either. If you have any inkling of what it's like to be in the white evangelical space, it is extremely conservative, whether you're black, white, purple, what have you, just because you have a person of color, you know, as the face making the statement does not necessarily mean that they endorse or support

what Kirk Franklin was trying to say in his speech. As someone who grew up in a megachurch, who was in leadership in a megachurch, I understand, and was frankly very frustrated with the fact that politics and racism was sadly integrated into religion. And Kirk Franklin was just frankly just trying to illuminate a problem in his world, specifically in his hometown. The fact that they tried to censor that is just unchristian in and of itself. So just because you're trying to cut to two hours to save money and time and what have you, that

definitely could have been integrated in the two hours. Something else could have been cut. This statement from TBN and the like, there's just no excuse for it. Jason, bottom line here is the Delaware screwed up again. They apologized after 2016, according to Kirk.

And then here we are. History is repeating itself. Yeah. No, absolutely. There's no excuse for it. This is not an accident. I think this had nothing to do with time control. I think that they actually didn't want something that they thought would rock the boat. They didn't

want the proverbial Kanye moment of George Bush doesn't care about black people. They didn't want the proverbial Kanye moment of George Bush doesn't care about black people. They didn't want that with Kirk Franklin. And they didn't want to offend anyone. But I think what they have to understand at the moment is that Kirk Franklin speaks for himself. And, you know, allowing him to express himself, that's what people do with music. And if you want musicians to be able to express themselves through their music, they also have to be able to express themselves in their words. And giving him the opportunity to talk about things that are, you know,

central to his being, central to his faith, central to his beliefs, I think is really important. And they made a huge mistake here. And I hope that they, you know, this obviously isn't a mistake. This is something that they did. And I hope that they you know, this obviously isn't a mistake. This is something that they did. And I hope that they learn their lesson here because I'm sure there was a significant backlash. Millick, your comment. I think it's a good thing that Kirk did here. He stood up. He put, you know, put himself on the line, put himself out like that. And I think it's a good thing. My question is, is that, you know, what what what are the remedies that he's seeking and whether or not he would participate,

even if they decide to do whatever it is that he would want them to do, whether or not he would participate next year? You know, it kind of reminds me of the NFL situation with Colin Kaepernick. You know, whether what are you going to do about it? And so are people going to boycott it next year? Not sure. All right, folks. Malik, Jason, Kelly, we appreciate it. Thank you so very much.

Folks, when we come back, we'll talk with Matthew Stewart of Stewart Speakers. They've been holding this event for 30-plus years in Indianapolis, and we'll talk about why it's so important to bring this Black Lecture Series to Indianapolis. That is next on roland martin unfiltered you want to support roller mark unfiltered be sure to join our bring the funk fan club every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real as roland martin unfiltered support the roland martin unfiltered daily digital show by by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans

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It's Roland Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there? Roland Martin Unfiltered. Like, share, subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. Alright folks, I'm here in Indianapolis

for the second consecutive year for the Steward Speakers Lecture Series. And so the brothers, the Stuart brothers, Matthew Stewart and his brother, they put this on. They've done this now for 30 years here in Indianapolis. And they have this State of Black America conversation. Last year, I moderated this conversation. We streamed it on Roland Martin Unfiltered. It was a conversation with Reverend Al Sharpton, Susan Taylor, as well as Michael Eric Dyson. This year's conversation

features George Frazier, Reverend Ron Lawrence Simmons, and others as well. So looking forward to that conversation. In a moment, I'm going to talk with Matthew Stewart about this. This is actually the third time I've been here. There he is. So he's been running around, staying busy. They do this. So first of all, so this is the second year I moderated. One other year I actually was the keynote speaker. So y'all been doing this for three decades? Three decades, yeah. 33 years

we've been bringing in everybody who's anybody, thought leaders from across the country from Harry Belafonte to Susan Taylor to Common to Dr. Mae Jemerson. So over a hundred thought leaders have come through this series. Why? So what was the impetus? What caused you and your brother to say, we got to do this? Yeah. So there's so much happening here in Indianapolis. I mean,

our homicide rate was up. Our health rates were skyrocketing where we were losing black males, black women far too soon. And so we knew that we had to bring in some national thought leaders to dialogue with us. So not only just to talk because our tagline is more than just talk, but to develop a plan of action so that we can start addressing these issues that are impacting our community. And when you think about, again, moving folks to action, what has been the outgrowth of that? Have you actually seen people take what they've heard here and then put it into effect, into plan in the community? Yeah, absolutely. So our churches, our communities of faith have started trying to help lower the homicide rate. And for the first time this year, we think our homicide rate will go down.

Not significantly, but it's going trending in the right direction. So houses of faith have been going in their community three, four blocks around their churches and saying that this is not the community standard here. We cannot tolerate this. The village needs positive people. We're getting people back from reentry back into the community, and we have to make sure that those coming back to the village are valued and that they understand that this is the new code of conduct in our community.

You also have a youth component, Reverend Run, this afternoon, talked to largely African-American men, but also some other folks as well. Why is that also important to be able to integrate speaking to young folks as well as those who are attending the lecture series tonight? Yeah, absolutely. So black males, again, I talked about that homicide rate of the 117 or 18 homicides this past year. 77 of those have been African-American males here in Indianapolis.

And so we're trying to grapple with that. And they understand Reverend Run because he speaks their language. And so to have three, 400 black males in a room where you have the founder of DMC in that room, they understand that, they listen, they connect. Well, it's interesting. We were in the car right from the airport, and he was going to put on his suit and his collar because he was also a minister. He said, should I change it? He had an Adidas tracksuit.

I'm like, no. Wear what you got on. Trust me, they'll identify with that. Absolutely, absolutely. So, yeah, and the feedback that we already are beginning to receive from the young men at that conference, there was a connection there. And so we will continue to develop them, move them into the direction that we need them to go in our community.

All right, folks. So that's going to start at 7 and it's 17, so we got to go. Now, here's the deal. Y'all have been experiencing the delay with the program because it's been real difficult getting a signal out of here. We're going to try to live stream tonight's conversation. If we're unable to get a connection, don't worry about it. We're going to record it, take that file, and then stream it tomorrow.

But we're going to try to make it happen. But, again, we have to operate based upon technology, and but we're going to try to make it happen uh but again we're you know we have to operate based upon technology and so we'll hope to do so and so we're glad to be here glad to be back for the second year in a row to moderate this we had a great conversation last year uh you can go to our youtube channel see that discussion uh with susan taylor michael erdison reverend al sharpton we're going to have this conversation in just a moment so always glad to be back in indapolis. So I got to go. Thank you, Malik, Kelly, and Jason for being on the show,

all of our guests as well. Folks, you know how I end the show. Be sure to support us at RollerMart Unfiltered. Go to RollerMartUnfiltered.com. Use Cash App, Square, PayPal to support what we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club because every dollar makes this possible. We get to travel to places like this, broadcast the show from cities all across the country

because nobody else is doing a black daily digital show. Nobody. That's why we do it. So I got to go. Time to go to work. Holler! Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves.

Arapahoe, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. 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.

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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 starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes.

We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. 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.

This is an iHeart Podcast.