#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 11 Ohio Cops Indicted, Black Unemployment Rate, Fmr PVAMU Pres. Speaks, Male Educators Project

Episode Date: March 11, 2023

3.10.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: 11 Ohio Cops Indicted, Black Unemployment Rate, Fmr PVAMU Pres. Speaks, Male Educators Project In Ohio, more than a third of the East Cleveland police department is now indicted for assault, dereliction of duty, and civil rights interference.  We will show you the appalling video, talk to the mayor and discuss what the prosecutor's Office and the Cleveland Division of the FBI plan to do to stop further corruption in the department. Dr. Ruth Simmons, the Former President at Prairie View A&M University, is speaking out about why she felt it was unavoidable for her to resign early.  You'll hear what she had to say and break down what this means for the future of Prairie View A&M.  February jobs report says the labor market remains solid even as the Federal Reserve tries to slow economic growth.  We'll break down the numbers.  More Black male teachers are needed in the U.S. to create a fair and equitable education experience; however, they currently only make up 2% of all teachers in public schools.  We will speak with The Bowie Black Male Educator Project to explain how they increase the opportunities and support for black men in education.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Friday, March 10, 2023, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network and Amazon News. Folks, more than a third of the East Cleveland Police Department, they've been indicted. That's right, indicted for assault, their election of duty, civil rights violations, you name it. All sorts of drama coming out of there. We'll show you the appalling video and also hear from the mayor and the DA on this huge, huge story. More drama there. Dr. Rula Simmons, of course, who stepped down as president of Prairie View A&M University.

She had some interesting things to say about the Texas A&M University Board of Regents and why she actually left early as president of Prairie View. We'll show you that exclusive she did with Camberl Marshall of Channel 2 in Houston. Also on today's show, flavored tobacco is popular among youth, but there's a huge problem rising with breathing problems. It's probably the African-American Tobacco Control Leadership Council to urge more states to ban flavored tobacco products. We'll talk with the co-chair right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

And the February jobs report, looks like the labor market is still solid. What about all these calls about a recession? Bill Spriggs, our economist, will break it down for us. Also, what will the U.S. need to create an equitable workforce? Well, how about more teachers of color, especially black men? We'll discuss that in our Education Matters segment. It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Barton, unfiltered, on the Black Star Network.

Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, 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 Roland. 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, y'all. It's Rolling Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know he's rolling Martin Martin

11 East Cleveland, Ohio Cops folks are in some serious trouble. They have been indicted on numerous charges, including assault, dereliction of duty, interfering with the civil rights. Cuyahoga County authorities released videos showing several incidents involving the East Cleveland police officers representing nearly a third of the department. Seven are facing charges for the first time, while four others were indicted on new charges. The 11 new indictments stem from incidents between February 2020 and July 2022. Folks, joining us right now to talk about this

is East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King. Brandon, glad to have you on Rollerback Unfiltered. It must be troubling to see a third of your police department facing these charges. Roland, good afternoon. Am I live? Can you hear me? Yes, you are. Go ahead. Roland, first, let me thank you for reaching out to me in regards to this interview. I've been a huge fan of yours since my days in college,

back in the 90s at Ohio University. We used to watch you on TV. So thank you, and I welcome this. In regards to the investigations that are happening, the indictments that have come down, yes, we are looking for more indictments to come. I thank Prosecutor O'Malley, the law enforcement agencies that have committed the significant resources to help us root out the individuals in our police department who have basically gone astray of their oaths of offices and what they were trained to do. So we encourage and welcome this, Roland. In fact, when I talked to O'Malley, Prosecutor O'Malley yesterday, I asked him that we be allowed to be at a press conference so that we could give a more fair or more detailed explanation as to what's happening, right? Because I know they have short time, and some of them may not have all of the information,

but the two indictments, Roland, were our indictments. We sent them to the county. We sent them to the there were a number of officers who were undoubtedly standing around watching something that they should have spoke up about so so mayor when you say they were your indictments was that information that y'all uncovered and then you sent to fellow authorities absolutely well I could share the documents with you let me give uncovered and then you sent to federal authorities? Absolutely. Bowen, I can share the documents with you.

Let me give you a real-life example because we've been going through indictment after indictment now for six months, at least six months. Without telling you the two patrolmen's names, right, we had got back from a bike ride that I take the staff out during the summer months. There was a young man here who said that he had his grandmother passed, right? He went to the bank. I think he had $7,000 on his way to the funeral home to pay for the funeral when an East Cleveland police officer pulled him over and looking at this young man, there was no doubt he was telling the truth. By two o'clock that same day, we had the first officer arrested and in jail. By four o'clock, we had the second officer arrested and in our jail, right? Six o'clock that same day, the county, because we called them,

came to our East Cleveland City Jail and picked up two of our officers in orange jumpsuits and handcuffs. Those are our investigations, right? And I told Prosecutor O'Malley, I said, you know, it's kind of a little slanted when you don't tell them that we're turning over cases to you to be investigated. neighbors, friends, and loved ones that me being mayor, working with city council from a couple years ago, we passed legislation to bring in body cams. We got state-of-the-art body cams that the patrolman basically can't manipulate or maneuver and is not really reliant on him to cut it on. When he gets out the car, it starts cutting on.

When his car picks up speed, it cuts on. So it's kind of like an automatic body cam. We're the ones who send the camera information down to them. We give them direct access to these new cameras. We welcome and want this type of oversight on our police. Mayor, hold tight one second. I got to go to a break. We come back. I want to pick up on this as well to get more from you folks. We're talking to the mayor of East Cleveland, Ohio, where a third of his police department has been arrested as a result of a number of charges, including

violating civil rights, dereliction of duty. And we'll continue covering this right here. Roland Martin, Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. A lot of these corporations or people that are running stuff push black people if they're doing a certain thing. What that does is it creates a butterfly effect of any young kid who, you know, wants to leave any situation they're in and the only people they see are people that are doing this. So I gotta be a gangster, I gotta shoot, I gotta sell, I gotta do this in order to do it. And it just becomes a cycle. But when someone comes around and is making other, oh, we don't, you know,

they don't want to push it or put money into it. So that's definitely something I'm trying to fix too, is just show there's other avenues. You don't gotta be rapping, you don't want to push it or put money into it. So that's definitely something I'm trying to fix, too, is just show those other avenues. You don't got to be a rapper. You don't got to be a ballplayer. You can be a country singer. You can be an opera singer. You can be a damn whatever, you know, showing the different avenues. And that is possible, and it's hard for people to realize it's possible until someone does. Next, on The Black Table, with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter,

which, simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone, and I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Vlithia Watkins, our legal roundtable team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture.

You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others governance is our thing who are we to each other the structures we create for ourselves how we order the universe as african people that's next on the black table here on the black star network Hi, I'm Teresa Griffin. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Mayor Brandon King, East Cleveland, Ohio. First of all, give us the breakdown, demographics-wise, of your city and the population? So the population, according to the Census Bureau, is about 13.

We would estimate it closer to about 17. 17,000 people? 17,000 people? 17,000. At its height, because I'm born and raised here, is about 42,000 residents. You are your proximity to Cleveland? So I could walk into Glenville. I could walk into Collinwood. I could walk in the university circle. We are neighbors. So has there been a history of problems in this police department? So there have been certainly when I grew up, there was community policing.

You didn't have a lot of that. Now, at some point, you get officers, they lose their way, and then it gets infectious, and you may have one or two, and then you'll have that. Roland, since I've been the mayor, we have locked up and indicted more police than in the history of any mayor of this city. I have a zero tolerance for that. Remember, I'm born and raised here. When I hire them, I tell them, you can't just treat residents any old kind of way because chances are they're my family. What's the racial... They're going to call me on my cell phone. First of all, how many total officers in your department?

So, Roland, I wouldn't give you that number simply from a safety perspective. I mean, is it 50? Is it 100? I mean, just give us the size of the department.

So the size of the department is between 50 and 100, yes. Okay, got it. And so what's the racial makeup of your police force? So the racial makeup of our police force, I would say we probably have more non-African-American police officers. So what is half of your police force white, more than that? And what's the racial makeup of your city? So I would say more than that,

but we don't really look at from a racial perspective. So all the officers arrested, were they a mix of black, white, Latino? Were they all white? Yes, they were a mix. They were a mix. But, Roland, you have to understand this was a white community. Our chief of police is a white man who was born in East Cleveland. So his passion is just like mine for this city.

He was born here. So we don't really look at race. One of the things that happens in Ohio, especially northeast Ohio, there is you don't have to live here to work here in the safety forces, right? And because the demand or the want, the applicants are so low, we're taking police officers as they're coming in, as are our counterparts in other cities. Everybody's hurting for police personnel. Well, first of all, the reason I'm asking those questions is because obviously we know twice in the past decade the Cleveland Police Department has had a federal consent decree and monitors looking over them. We also know of other issues that have happened there in Ohio.

And what this speaks to is what we keep talking about at the problem. We talk about the so-called few, few bad apples is that, look, it's a problem with blue, not just white. Also, we know, of course, with Memphis, also black police officers. And so that's why I was trying to I was trying to get at that as well. And so when you talk about your zero tolerance, is that a hindrance to officers applying for jobs in your city in terms of the tough stance you and your police chief

have when it comes to actions of cops? No. A lot of police officers or people coming out of the cadet school welcome that type of position. That way they know if they're with someone and something happens and they happen to be with a bad apple or someone who lost their way, that they will be protected, right, from that. What happens here is because our pay is not up to par with surrounding communities, we get poached a lot for our officers. They could leave here at a entry level position and go somewhere and make what our chief makes here. Right. So we wind up being a training ground for a number of police.

Well, and I have to state, we don't have that racial problem here. If you remember when the riots and the Black Lives Matter came, they tore up downtown Cleveland. They kept saying they're coming here. What happened? Our neighborhood groups, Oppressed People Nation, Black Lives Matter, Black on Black Crime, they were standing out here like, no, that's not going to happen here.

They walked the streets, not the police, the residents and the organizations here walked the streets like, y'all not bringing that here. We don't have problems with the police. You won't hear that a police officer here murdered someone unjustly, black, white, green, purple, or blue. We don't have those problems here. All right. Mayor Brandon King, we certainly appreciate it.

Great job, and we certainly appreciate the stance that you're taking. Roland, my brother, I have your book. I'm a huge fan of yours. Thank you for calling me and taking this and having this interview with me. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Thank you. Folks, I want to bring in my panel right now. Joining us is retired LAPD Sergeant Cheryl Dorsey. Cheryl, glad to have you. Cheryl, when you hear the mayor speak that way, that's really how mayors in every city should be responding when it comes to officers who do wrong on the police force. Absolutely. And I mean, I'm really excited to hear this brother talk this way.

And so I've got some suggestions for him and any other like minded mayor about what they can do about these rogue miscreants that are on their departments. You know, and again, for him to hear him to say, no, we turn over the evidence. I mean, oftentimes look what happened when Romney Manning was mayor of Chicago when they held onto that tape of the shooting of Laquan McDonald. Too often cities are protecting police officers as opposed to being proactive and saying, no, we want them off our force. Right. And so, you know, it's great that they're pulling these officers off the force. It's great that indictments are forthcoming. But the question I have, Roland, is that, you know, nobody's talking about this but me. So I'm going to just go ahead and say it yet again. What about all the folks that are sitting in jail right now who were put there by these rogue, compromised police officers?

Because what I know to be true, whenever an officer puts hands on you, whenever they arrest you for something, they have generally manufactured the probable cause for that arrest. They lie to substantiate the unnecessary use of force. And so we know now on the back end that all of these officers are compromised, much like the ones on the Memphis Police Department who have now been added to what they call the Giglio list. Whenever an officer lies in pursuit of arresting someone and convicting them, everything that they've touched, every arrest report, every police encounter, every criminal case should be reviewed and probably dismissed by the prosecutor.

So I hope the mayor over there will get on the prosecutor, the DA, and have a conversation about that. Absolutely. I want to bring in, there's my panel as well, I certainly want them to weigh in, Caleb Bethea, Communication Strategies, Michael Imhotep, host of the African History Network show, Matt Manning, civil rights attorney.

Matt, your thoughts on, again, the proactive measures being taken there at East Cleveland. I like the proactive measures, Roland, but if I'm honest, something is very fishy to me here. And the reason something's fishy to me here is it does not make sense to me that a police department with 50 to 100 officers, presumably half of whom or up to a quarter of whom are engaged in such activities, it would be this deluge of indictments at one time. People knew about this. People talk in cities much larger than this about rogue cops. I mean, I've been in the criminal justice system for 10 years.

Everybody knows who's doing the kick doors and who's crooked and all of that. So, you know, as much as I like the rhetoric from Mayor King and as much as I support that in theory, I have some pretty serious questions about how this could go on this long and is just now coming to a head now at this magnitude. Sixteen people being indicted in a police department is an extraordinary outcome, right? An extraordinary happening. But it's very strange to me that would be happening all at one time. And I understand the FBI conducted an investigation. Surely investigations take a while.

But it stands to reason if this thing, this kind of thing has been going on this long, they've known about it. And I would like to know what brought this to a head now. Why is it just coming out now? And why, you know, is it that the FBI is coming with all of these indictments now? It stands to reason if you have this tough on stance on, you know, police misconduct stance, then there should have been people rooted out a long time ago. And yeah, but it seems very. But here's the deal here.

Here's the deal here, Matt and Cheryl. First, the mayor said we turn the information over. It was the D.A. and the FBI. Now, here's the deal. They can't control what their investigation is, nor can they control when they actually take it to a grand jury. So, I mean, again, you can be the mayor and you can say, hey, I got a zero tolerance, but the mayor can't actually charge and indict.

That may be true, but the mayor generally, depending on the council mayor form or what the form of government is, is usually the one who would be the one hiring or firing. So if you have credible evidence that this is happening, I don't understand how people are still on the police force accused charge, but it's very fishy to me that you would have this morass of people committing these kinds of offenses, all being indicted at one time. But what you also have, again, these indictments have also been all coming down since September, Michael, including the former police chief who was indicted for theft and fraud. Yeah. You know, looking at the article from Cleveland dot com, you've had 16 officers actually indicted over the past seven months. And of the 11 that were indicted on Wednesday, this past Wednesday, four of them have previously been indicted as well. So I'd be interested to find out the four that were previously indicted.

I don't know what the outcome is. Did that actually go to trial also, the four that were previously indicted? But, you know, this is almost a third of the police force. Now, this is according to the census.gov 2021 population, the East Cleveland is about 13,700. Now, my question would be, OK, so who do you replace? So hold on. First of all, let's give a timeline. First of all, again, the incidents took place between February 2020 and July 2022. Okay.

So the last incident is July. So we're talking about just nine months ago. So the incident, so that particular incident nine months ago. So if we're talking about a county DA's office and the feds actually launching an investigation, I'm not surprised that you would have this all come down now. And again, there were some indictments in September and then now, which was just six months ago. And now you have an indictment coming down now. So that that doesn't actually surprise me with, you know, in terms of the cases I've sort of covered. Michael, make a point and then we'll go to break. Come back with Kelly and Cheryl. Go. Yeah. My last point would be I would be interested to find out who they replace these 16 officers with on the force and what measures they take to make sure they don't end up with the same type of officers. Well, first of all, they just got first of all, they haven't even fired yet. So you can't replace anybody just yet.

So, Kelly, your thoughts weigh in. I got about 45 seconds before I go to break. Sure. I mean, I, again, Mayor King's rhetoric and his response to this problem is admirable. But something that stood out to me is the fact that he said that we don't look at race. I find that problematic because even though this may be considered a blue problem, blue upholds white supremacy, period. And you can be black and uphold white supremacy. You can be white and uphold white supremacy. And the fact of the matter is, a third of their force, being blue, somehow at the very least holds a cultural bias against black people and upholds white supremacy. And to me, that's not just a few rotten apples, as he said.

That is a rotten tree that needs to be uprooted completely and then reseeded. So I don't know how that's going to work. Well, he may be saying that because 88% of East Cleveland is black. And so the reality is East Cleveland

is a black suburb. That's what it is. So it's 88%. No, no, I got that. But I'm just saying like 80 percent. So that's why I was asking the question, what's the racial makeup there? And you but you still have these issues because, again, you can look at majority black city in Memphis. And we saw the five cops involved in the Tyree nickel. Exactly. Everybody hold tight. One second. Hold tight. One second. Go to a break. We'll talk more about this on the flip side. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Pull up a chair. Take your seat.

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Cheryl, I fundamentally believe that the social justice action of the last decade is what has led to this different focus when it comes to police investigations, when it comes to arrests, when it comes to indictments, because folks have made clear they're not going to allow that. In fact, everybody needs to remember the former D.A. of Cuyahoga County who oversaw the case of Tamir Rice was voted out of office because of that particular case as well. And so to have this new D.A. be involved in this is not a surprise because of that particular case and so many others. Yeah, I mean, this is a great first start and I appreciate everything that they're doing there. I certainly appreciate that on the heels of what we heard from Attorney General Merrick Garland on yesterday with regards to what's going on. I can't say the city right now, but that was that was with the deal. That was Louisville, Louisville. But the problem is, is that there's 18000 police departments and we know that these problems exist. And I wish these police chiefs would start paying attention to community members when they come in

with complaints about these rogue officers. So much deference is given to a police officer's version of events. And we know that given what we've seen in the case of Tyree Nichols and others, that sometimes these police officers will lie in pursuit of putting someone in jail. And so are we going to have to wait for Merrick Garland to have an investigative report one by one by one on these police departments, one consent decree after another, another loss of life before we have real substantive national change? I hope not. And this is precisely why, Matt, I say you've got to have city officials being far more aggressive in making it clear to rogue officers, you will be suspended, you will be fired, you will be charged, you will be indicted if you're involved in wrongdoing.

The problem is that too many cities are protective of police departments because they're afraid of the unions, they're afraid of losing their endorsement, they're afraid of a place where people are like, oh my God, goodness, we might have a high crime in this area. That's one of the fundamental problems. Yeah, I think you're exactly right, Roland, but I think it's kind of a both end as opposed to just an individual issue to the extent that really a lot of times what impedes local officials' ability to get rid of officers is their collective bargaining

agreements, like you said. So it's not only being afraid of the unions, it's that they literally have rules and laws in place that make it very difficult for them to fire police officers and firefighters. And to some extent, you should want that, right? You should want that there's a protection for people who put themselves in the line of fire. However, when there's credible evidence that those people are out harming people or otherwise doing things unbecoming of the badge, it should be easier for cities and counties and other municipalities to get rid of them. And that's why we find a lot of times an officer is found to have committed misconduct. But if they don't follow the civil service rules, they not only get back pay, but they get an

opportunity to go somewhere else and work. So it has to be a both end. It has to be the official's willingness to stand up, but also from a legislative standpoint, giving them a greater ability to get rid of those officers who are committing these offenses. Between this as well as, as Cheryl mentioned, Louisville, Michael,

we're also in the midst of these campaigns, and everybody keeps talking about crime, crime, crime, crime, crime, crime, crime. Yet there are communities that are saying, yeah, we also want to see crime go down. But we also want to see thuggish cops who commit crimes also pay the price. Yeah, that's why when it comes to crime and when it comes to crime and policing, OK, you need a holistic approach to it. We talked about before here on this show, Roland,

dealing with poverty and elements that lead to crime taking place. But at the same time, you have to hold road cops accountable. And you also, I would argue, that you also have to have a campaign within that city to recruit people who want to be the type of officers we say we want to see. Because once again, once you prosecute those officers, not just in this case, but in any case, we've had officers here in Detroit prosecuted and sent to prison, things like this. Once you prosecute them, once you fire them, who do you replace them with? any case, we've had officers here in Detroit prosecuted and sent to prison, things like this.

Once you prosecute them, once you fire them, who do you replace them with? Okay. So there also has to be a campaign, I would argue, to recruit the type of officers that we say we want to see, those who respect humanity, those who treat people with respect, those who will only use lethal force as the last result after you exhausted other means, things of this nature as well. So it's going to take a holistic approach. But this is going to be a campaign issue coming up in the 2024 election. Kelly, you have, again, so many of these members of Congress and other folks sitting here, again, talking about crime, crime, crime. But I would dare say we still have to make it clear that demanding police accountability has to be at the top of the agenda for the very same people and not simply bowing down to the crime boogeyman.

And the fact of the matter is what these police officers are doing is criminal, right? So they should be looped in with that whole crime, crime, crime narrative anyway. And at the end of the day, while I applaud East Cleveland for indicting these officers, what we need are convictions. So until we have convictions, this go around, we have to keep fighting to make sure that police officers are held accountable so that stuff like this don't happen in East Cleveland or any other jurisdiction. Well, the reality, Cheryl, you can't get to convictions until you get to indictments. You can't get to indictments unless they'd be in charge. I mean, you can't get to that until you have police departments in the cities be far more aggressive. You heard the mayor talk about their body cameras. And I keep

saying to people, look, they're not a panacea, but the benefit of body cameras is the ability to see what these officers are doing. I saw the video of the officers who were so stupid, they actually recorded themselves stealing money from folks, from a house they were searching. That's, I mean, again, thank goodness for body cameras. Otherwise, you would have had somebody saying, yo, they stole our money. No, we didn't. There was no money there. So that's why I'm a fundamentally believer. Every every law enforcement agency should have body cameras.

And again, if they are turned off or if they're simply thrown aside, you can't see what's happening. Folks, you should be suspended and fired. I agree. And certainly body cameras play a part in all of this. And I would probably assume that many of those officers in that group of 16 over there in Cleveland are not first time offenders. And I understand that police officers have due process and certain rights. And, you know, we talk all the time about qualified immunity and how we need to get rid of it. That's not going to happen. But there are some practical things that police chiefs can do. It's not a right to work in patrol. And while you may not be able to fire an officer like Derek Chauvin with 20 plus personnel complaints, you can certainly tie him to a desk.

You can get him out of the field. And once you do get these people out of the field, or if they decide to resign, as one of the officers did over there in Cleveland, an officer by the name of Holman, he resigned before they could get to him and fire him. And what did he do? He went right next door and got hired by El Raya Police Department. Now, they fired him on Wednesday when they found out he was being indicted. But if you decertify a police officer, you take away their license to be a cop. They can't run from one police department to another like so many have when they get in trouble on one agency. And so there are certainly things that police chiefs and administrators can do. And if I know it as a little old sergeant on the LAPD, I promise you they understand.

All right, Cheryl Dorsey, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, we come back. We're going to talk the economy. February jobs report is out. It's showing the economy is not slowing down. All of the talk about recession. Why? Where is it coming from? Why does this continue to persist when the jobs report says something else? We'll talk to Dr. Bill Spriggs about that next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Be sure, if you're watching YouTube, hit the Like button, folks.

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into deadly violence. White will not be white. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history.

Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys.

This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network.

Pull up a chair. Take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Peace and love, everybody. I'm Purple Wonder Love. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, 311,000 jobs were added in February, but the unemployment rate for African-Americans and Hispanics actually went up. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics, black women's unemployment rate jumped to 5.1% from 4.7%. Hispanic women to 4.8% from 4.4%. Overall, unemployment rate peaked at 3.6% in February from 3.4%. Joining us now, Dr. William Spriggs,

of course, economist. Of course, AFL-CIO, taught at Howard University, all that good stuff. All right, so Bill, break it down for us. So we add 311,000 jobs, but Hispanic unemployment goes up, the overall unemployment rate goes up, yet you still have, I swear,

when you watch CNBC and all these business networks, they just keep yelling recession, recession, recession, recession, recession, recession. The jobs reports seem to be different or counter that. That's exactly right. I mean, this job report, though, highlights a fallacy that we're hearing from the Federal Reserve, that there's some job shortage, that we ran out of workers. Their story, even back in December when they raised interest rates, we don't have any more workers.

Employers are desperate. We have to slow down the economy because there are no more workers, and this is putting wage pressures. So what happened is in January and February, 800,000 people got added to the payroll. So if you're telling me there are no more workers, then where did these 800,000 employment numbers come from? For Black workers and for Hispanic workers, the surge in hiring gave a response of more people looking, because why am I going to look for a job if they're not hiring? So with hiring taking place, you see Black and Hispanic search efforts go up, and so this number is quirky.

The share of Black people having a job went up. In many neighborhoods, people don't understand the difference between unemployment and not employed. These are not the same thing. So explain. Unemployed means I've been put in a job, but I didn't

find it, which is different than I didn't have a job. There's two different things. Hold on, Bill. Hold on, hold on, hold on, Bill, hold on, hold on. So, again, explain what not employed means. What does unemployed mean? Right. So unemployed means when I was asked the question last month,

did you do something for which you were paid? Then I get counted as employed. If I answer yes to that, end of story. If I answer no, I did not do anything for pay, then I'm asked, did you look for work? Now, some people are at home taking care of children. Some people are full-time students. Some people are 90 years old and retired. They have no intention of looking for work.

Those people will say, no, I didn't look for work. They are not employed. They are also not unemployed because they're not looking. So that's the difference. So what happened last month is a lot of people said, yeah, I was looking, except I didn't get a job. So you have more people looking. Some of them are successful.

So the share of people holding a job goes up. There are more black men employed, a greater share of black men employed, but these others weren't successful, so the unemployment rate goes up. So when you, I got to keep, again, keep addressing this, this stuff about recession. I just saw that Meta, also Facebook, announced they may be laying off another 13% of their workforce matching last year. And every time I turn around, I just keep hearing all of these CEOs going, recession, recession. I mean, it is as if they're trying to wheel us into a recession by constantly saying it's a recession. If I look at the jobs report and the stock market, I'm not seeing it.

So what the hell are people talking about? Well, this week, the chair of the Federal Reserve had to come to Capitol Hill and explain the monetary policy he is pursuing. And when questioned, particularly by Senator Elizabeth Warren, what's going on, Powell said that his projections are for unemployment to go up to 4.3 percent. In other words, what he told her was the economy is overheated, there are no more workers, wages are going up too much, and I, as a policy, will deliberately slow down the economy. And so what you're hearing from people is this constant anticipation that eventually

the Federal Reserve is going to crash the economy because the chairman of the Fed went to the Congress and said, I am deliberately trying to get unemployment up. That is my goal. And so people are anticipating that. And that's why you keep hearing people talk about a recession. Fortunately for us, the economy is so powerful that we're still adding jobs. People are still getting hired. Wages aren't going up as much as they have been going up. The wage growth is slowing down. But because inflation has come down by more, what we are seeing in the last two months is that real wages, that is your wages, including the effect of inflation, your wages are buying more than

they were last year. So you are better off. I'm still confused. I'm still confused by this logic. We got to get unemployment up. That is like the dumbest thing to me. Again, it kills me. We got to get unemployment up because this is just ridiculous. So you want folks out of work? And then we all know if unemployment goes up politically, that's used against who's ever in the White House. Exactly. What's the logic? I mean, maybe that's an economic thing. Maybe that's an economist thing.

The logic of, man, we got to get unemployment rate up. The Federal Reserve has convinced itself and only itself. They have some cheerleaders who like when wages are down because this makes corporations more powerful. But the Federal Reserve has convinced itself we're back in the 1980s. We're going to face this exploding price inflation, that workers' wages are going to continue to go up, that workers are going to be angry at inflation, demand higher wages, and that's going to put pressure on companies to keep boosting prices, and then this will never end. They also fear that people will say, well, you're not serious because you say that your target is inflation

is supposed to be 2%, and right now it's running a little over 5%, so you're not doing the things to bring inflation down. And this is, it totally misses the mark, right? Everybody knows, everybody knows that the reason why prices are up, we've had several supply shocks. We had the problem when we couldn't get computer chips. Now that we have computer chips, a smartphone this month is 24% less, less. The price has dropped. Smartphones are 24% less than they were last year. Why? Because now they have the chips. Now they're making phones again. So the supply has returned. So the price is returned. Everybody knows about those chip spikes. Everybody knows the price of eggs went up because we had the bird flu. We had to kill millions, not hundreds, not thousands. We killed millions of chickens.

Of course, everybody knows if you kill millions of chickens, the price of eggs is going to have to go up because you got to have chickens, sad eggs. This is common sense. And everybody knows the three largest producers of wheat in the world, the United States, Russia, and the Ukraine. As long as Russia and Ukraine are fighting each other, we know that the price of food is going to have to be higher. We know this. You can put the interest rates at a zillion if you want. It's not going to get Putin out of Ukraine. It's not going to solve problems with bird flu.

This is not going to happen. And the chips came back without the Fed. If the Fed had done nothing, the chips would have come back because it just took time in order to reboot the production. So a lot of what the Fed is doing has nothing to do with why there's inflation. And the number one reason for inflation, companies are just raising prices because they can. Right. They're raising prices to make more money. And the president's budget is not getting credit

because the number one way to dissuade firms, to tell them, look, you go ahead and boost profits, we're raising the tax. That corporate tax is the biggest way to send the signal, y'all can boost prices all you want, we're just going to raise your tax. And that sends the signal, stop price gouging. And the Republican Party goes, oh, absolutely not. How dare you raise taxes on these companies? And this is the same Republican Party that wants to cut unemployment benefits because they say people are making too much money. And they also say, oh, my goodness, wages are going too high. And so what it really is, it is an economy that is set up to protect companies and say workers stay poor or stay unemployed. That's right.

I mean, people, businesses like it when workers are destitute and have to take a job, right? They want workers begging, oh, please give me a job, any job. I'll do anything. That's what they like. You know their number one complaint was, people are quitting. I don't like that people quit and go to work for somebody else for more money. Well, that's a

personal problem. Dr. Bill Spriggs, we appreciate you breaking down for us. Thanks a lot. Good to be on. Good to see you. Yes, sir. Have a good one. This right here, Michael, is really what trips me out, again, every time we have these discussions because, again, it's just basic common sense, but folk don't want to hear that.

They want to make it sound like this thing is so complicated, and these folks on Wall Street and these other people, they know what's best. They're the smartest people in the room. No, they're not. Well, yeah, they're not always the smartest people in the room. And Bill Spriggs and our Facebook friends, I had a question for him because some of what he was breaking down, everybody does not know. Representative Katie Porter did a good job of exposing how 51 percent of inflationary costs are because of corporate greed. That came out of a congressional hearing. But what I would like to know is what should the Federal Reserve

actually do? What should Jerome Powell actually do? Because the theory was put forth that if you make it harder to borrow money, then you can slow down the economy and slow down inflation. OK, well, we we've had a number of increases in the prime interest rate and we've seen inflation come down for about six or seven months and we've seen all these other factors as well. Right. So can you keep inflation declining and not keep raising the interest rate as well? So, you know, this is. Look, first of all, as Bill said, the most fundamental part of this, if you have companies that stop raising prices, then you're not having the big issue here. That's just what's driving the majority of this.

And as the supply chain gets better, then you don't have the long wait. It all benefits. But you can't have companies continue to screw over workers. I've got to go to a break. Folks, we'll be right back on Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, we've seen the headlines. Major tech companies laying off.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, just to name a few, and tens of thousands have been laid off as a result. On the next Get Wealthy, we take a look at what it means to recession-proof your career in tech. Joining me will be Kanika Tover, and she's going to be sharing exactly what you need to do to turn anxiety into achievement. Shifting our mindset to thinking that only opportunities exist in big tech is something that we're going to have to like shift fast because there's so many opportunities that are out there that we have to change the way we were thinking about our careers. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and

entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day, right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, we've seen the headlines. Major tech companies laying off. Google, Facebook, Twitter, just to name a few,

and tens of thousands have been laid off as a result. On the next Get Wealthy, we take a look at what it means to recession-proof your career in tech. Joining me will be Tamika Tover, and she's going to be sharing exactly what you need to do to turn anxiety into achievement. Shifting our mindset to thinking that only opportunities exist in big tech is something that we're going to have to like shift fast because there's so many opportunities that are out there that we have to change the way we were thinking about our careers. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Eldie Barge.

Hey, yo, peace world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Thank you. សូវបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា� I think I'm going to light some more candles and bring the lights down a little bit, have a whole different little look here. All right. Maybe we'll do that for the last 30 minutes of the show. What you laughing for, Matt?

See, you can do that when it's your show. Okay? You set the rules. That's right. That's right. It's Friday night. You know, we can have a whole different little vibe here. All right, y'all.

Let's talk about young folks and smoking. These flavored tobacco products causing a lot of outrage from folks believing that it's having a dramatic impact on more young people being addicted to tobacco. My next guest is Carol McGruder, co-founder and co-chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council. She's out of Richmond, Virginia. Glad to have you, Carol. So walk us through this impact, if you will, you know, those believe when it comes to flavored tobacco and its impact on young folks. All right. So can you hear me okay? Good evening. Yeah, we can hear you just fine. So here's the deal. If you have the show up, turn that off.

That way you're hearing me because you're likely hearing me on a delay. OK, I turned I turned everything off. All right. There you go. Go right ahead. All right. OK, great. So I am my organization, the African-American Tobacco Control Leadership Council. We have been working on this issue of menthol for actually decades. And there's a lot of confusion around. So I need to take you back to not the beginning, but some of the most important pieces. The most important piece was in 2009. At that time, President Barack Obama, that feels like a century ago, signed the Tobacco

Control Act. And that gave the FDA the authority to regulate the tobacco industry. At that time, simultaneously, he took all the flavors off of the market for combustible cigarettes except for menthol. And menthol is what Black people smoke. And the reason Black people smoke menthol is because it was seeded in our neighborhood by the tobacco industry. All of the, I call them the tobacco industry cartel because they're actually federally adjudicated racketeers. They would give cigarettes away to children like Marie Evans in Boston at nine years old, like Dave Chappelle. That's how he began smoking. He got

free cigarettes in Metro, in the Metro in Washington, D.C., when he was just 14 years old. So that legacy of why Newports are our co-star in every movie that's ever made about a black person that's smoking is because of that racist and pernicious targeting. So when President Obama signed the law, menthol was left in. And at the last minute, the Congressional Black Caucus actually added an amendment for them to do something about menthol was left in. And at the last minute, the Congressional Black Caucus actually added an amendment for them to do something about menthol. So they were charged to do something. And they have been studying it and dragging their feet since that time. And then what happened was e-cigarettes came on the market, totally unregulated, just left out there. And that's when we got a real practical demonstration that flavors attract and

hook children, because the e-cigarette epidemic that we saw with our young people spread like wildfire across this country. So that was the demonstration. So our children are vaping. And initially, that targeting was really with middle-class white children. And so there was a quicker response than when we had been given free Newport cigarettes physically in our hands as children in every urban city in this country. So where we are today is we have actually sued the FDA to make them take menthol off the market since that time when they could have. The European Union has taken it off. Canada, our neighbors to the north have taken it off. And the U.S. is still dragging its feet, even though their own reports and studies have demonstrated that taking menthol off the market

will benefit the public health. So that's where we are with the menthol. Well, first of all, what people don't realize is there were very few advertisers for black-owned media in the 70s and the 80s. And there's a significant number of tobacco companies that did so. We all remember those full-page ads in Ebony Magazine, Jet Magazine, and all in black newspapers. In addition, you had tobacco companies that literally sponsored women's tennis. I mean, you had the Virginia Slims Tennis Championship. Well, that's where the Slims come from, from smoking. But the thing that you also have here is you have had the tobacco industry that then has, frankly, pimped black folks and paid black folks to fight the ban on menthols. I remember getting an email from someone, and the whole notion was, oh, this is going to hurt the black-owned convenience stores

and the black stores and black neighborhoods. And I was going, one, how many are we talking about? Let's just be real honest here. And so that's also one of the ways the tobacco industry has been trying to impact this. That is absolutely correct. And so what my colleague, my sister colleague, Dr. Valerie Yerger, she had a research paper years ago that looked at the internal tobacco industry documents that have been released through litigation, where they document in their own words, and it's called Smoking with the Enemy, how they perniciously and systematically infiltrated all of our major African-American organizations, Ebony and Jet, which if you're my age, those magazines were so important to us,

had a Newport advertisement in almost every single edition. And Stanford University actually has a collection of all of those advertisements. So, yes. And so bring it up to today. There are folks in our community, because the industry sees us getting away. So they don't want Black folks to get away. So the tobacco industry, they have latched on to our legitimate grievances, our legitimate pains and suffering and racism in this country. And they want to defend us now by keeping menthol on the

market, which is the number one killer of Black people, more than everything else combined. So when we think of what our issues are, tobacco has to be in the top five, and we all need to get on board. No one loves a black menthol smoker more than the African-American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, because that's why we exist. We just will not continue to let these multinational tobacco companies prey upon our people, our pain, and have these addictive products continue to have them in our neighborhoods. And so we've been working systematically.

We sued the FDA, but cities, counties, and states across the country are taking their products off the market until the FDA acts. Only the FDA can prohibit the distribution nationally, and that's what they're supposed to do this year. But, Roland, we know that with all of the interference that we have on our national level, it's just hard to get anything done. And the industry has such deep pockets and manipulation. And so we know we just need to keep going to protect our people. Kelly, got a question? Sure. So for those of us who don't know, when we hear like e-cigarettes and vaping and things like that, does that include like hookah products at all? Or are we just specifically talking about products

that have nicotine in them? That's a great question because we know that, so California passed a law that the tobacco industry put on the ballot. We upheld it. So it's going into effect. Hookah got an exemption. Hookah is not a passive, innocent, cultural thing. Hookah is a combustible product. You're inhaling flames into your lungs. My daughter went to an HBCU in Atlanta from California State, so I've seen the proliferation of hookah and how many African-American entrepreneurs are in on it. But hookah is not good, and we need to do something about hookah. But for this moment, we're concentrating on menthol cigarettes and also the

little cigars and cigarillos. So that's your Backwoods, your Swisher Sweets, your Black and Mouths that were left wholly out of the purview of the FDA at the time. So the FDA is going to be issuing two rules. One will deal with menthol cigarettes, and one will deal with the little cigars and cigareos that were just left wild, wild west out because our people, our young people, who are now 40, they were not protected at all

against those cheap and dangerous products. Child, look, you go after hookah, these Negroes are going to lose their damn mind. I know. I swear, you can't go back to Atlanta. You can't go to a damn club, bar, restaurant. It's going to be in church pretty soon. I'm

so sick of that damn hookah. Oh my God. First of all, I'm alerted to smoke, and so ain't no way in hell I'm going to be inhaling flames. That's just crazy. Matt? Secondhand smoke of hookah is just as dangerous as any secondhand smoke. And so in Atlanta, they don't seem to, in California, you can't do it every way the way that they do in Atlanta at

our places. And so, as I said, I'm waiting for hookah to be in church in Atlanta because it's just everywhere you go. And we got to deal with that, but I know that's going to be hard. You're in line. Matt? So my question is about state enforcement and how that has an interplay with the FDA. So what have you found, I guess, strategically is effective at moving the FDA? Is there a critical mass of states or major cities that you're angling for to get them to do this? Yeah. So we know from, you know, California, we're a leader in tobacco control. Commercial tobacco control starts locally. It's really grassroots, and it's like a quilt. So, you're

making, so you get cities, cities, and then you get states. So now we have two states. Massachusetts was actually the first state. And California is now just beginning to implement our law. So, you know, it's all over the city. We're working in cities all over. We're working in New York City. And that's a hot one, because of Stop and Frisk and Eric Gardner and all of these things. And so what I want to say to my people is that this is to protect us, and that a law is not magic, that it's the beginning. We passed our Voting Rights Act 50 years ago. We're still fighting for that. But this is worth fighting for

to save our children and to stop these this generational pattern of addiction. We're losing 45,000 Black people every year in this country from tobacco-induced diseases. And those people are people like me, their parents and grandparents, the people who make our families function and our communities function. And our job as the African-American Tobacco Control Leadership Council is to work on enforcement so that we the enforcement is on the retailers. It's not on an individual. There's no police officer anywhere who's going to come up to a brother on the corner and say, are you smoking a menthol or a non-menthol cigarette? It's not that level. And when the FDA acts, it will be bring it further up. So it'll be

dealing with the cartels rather than the retailers who are like the foot soldiers. If you're looking, you know, at a drug dealing, which is really what this is. Matt. I just asked Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael. All right. Hello, Carol Magruder. Thanks for this information. And I've been following this for a couple of years now. My question is, OK, so the the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA has stated that if they banned menthol cigarettes, 92,000 to 23 side, as you just mentioned, those who say, well, wait a second, if you ban it is going to increase conflict or increase interactions with police officers. OK, but when we look at the proposal, when we look at the proposal in New York, the state of New York, it the language states that it would prohibit police officers or other law enforcement officers from arresting any person on the grounds in relation to any flavored tobacco product. So with that being the case, what are they talking about? It's smoke and mirrors, and it's latching on to our legitimate

fears. When we see Eric Gardner, when we see Trayvon and our people, Oscar Grant in California, where I come from, who was killed by a BART policeman, the pain is visceral. And so, of course, we're going to react that we want to protect and avoid having any interaction with police. And our position is that we have to do both of those things at the same time. We can't allow the biggest wolf to roam our neighborhood killing us, while the police are there who are doing their thing. We have to do both things. And so the laws clearly say that this is not about the individual, but there are folks who say that this is going to make more interactions. And so, of course, Eric Gardner is the most painful example. I was in a room with his mother.

What can I say to Gwen, Ms. Gwen, after losing her son so horrifically? But we must continue, and we must be vigilant. And so this is the law. These laws are not magic. And we need, so what I would like to see is we have some, there's a,so there's a pastor in Detroit, Pastor Sheffield, a powerful man. The tobacco industry offered him $250,000 to come out against menthol bans. And Detroit is a very important city for many reasons. And he publicly came out to denounce it. He is close personal friends with Reverend Al Sharpton, who also takes money from Rentals American, as does Reverend Dr. Ben Chavis.

So our position is that the legitimate concerns that we have, let's work on pressuring our public health to have cessation services for our people, to approach this very holistically, to put the same energy that's been put in by the tobacco industry and racially and persistently targeting us, to put that into the solution. And one of the things that our organization is doing is we're taking our case to the United Nations because the racist, persistent targeting by the tobacco industry for all these years actually violates the International Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is one of the few by the tobacco industry for all these years actually violates the international convention for the elimination of racial discrimination, which is one of the few international treaties

that the United States has ratified. All right. So we are taking our case outside of the boundaries of our country. That's how bad this is. Carol Magruder, we really appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Roland. Thank you so much. All right, folks, going to a break. We'll be back. Roland Martin, Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Be sure to download the app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One. Also support us with your resources. Check your money orders.

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Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. The Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. A lot of these corporations or people that are running stuff push black people if they're doing a certain thing. What that does is it creates a butterfly effect

of any young kid who, you know, wants to leave any situation they're in, and the only people they see are people that are doing this. So I got to be a gangster, I got to shoot, I got to sell, I got to do this in order to do it. And it just becomes a cycle. But when someone comes around and is making other money, you know, they don't want to push it or put money into it.

So that's definitely something I'm trying to fix, too, is just show there's other avenues. You don't got't, you know, they don't want to push it or put money into it, so that's definitely something I'm trying to fix, too, is just show there's other avenues. You don't got to be a rapper, you don't got to be a ballplayer. You can be a country singer, you can be an opera singer, you can be a damn whatever, you know? Showing the different avenues, and that is possible, and it's hard for people to realize it's possible until someone does it. This is DeOlla Riddle.

What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. Welcome back. Roland Martin, Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. So I told you, you can now check us out on Amazon News. And so, of course, our 24-hour streaming channel. So let me explain to you.

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channel. And so if you go to, so I'm going to show you what that is. And so we've got Amazon Fire here in the studio right here. And so again, you can download the app on Amazon Fire or you can watch the streaming channel, meaning when you pull it up, no need for you to sit and click what shows to watch. And so if you are, if so, let's say here on Amazon News right here, folks. And so you see here, this is the news icon. And so if I scroll over to the news icon, I can actually drop down and you see it says News by Fire TV. So on this page, I can scroll right on over and you see all the different Scripps News, Bloomberg, You See Today, all the different folks. Well, then you got right here, Black Star Network. So you click that, you can actually watch our live broadcast. And not

just watch our live broadcast, you can literally just watch, you can literally watch our live broadcast and not just watch our live broadcast. You can literally just watch. You can literally watch our programming. So you don't have to turn the channel. You can sit there and watch it the entire time. And so, yeah, this is live programming. So obviously, it's a delay. So you can see me pop up in a second here on the actual app. And so it's just like any other channel that you want to watch. No need for you to click the icons and move stuff around. You can actually just watch it. Now, you go back to the home screen. If you go into Amazon News and you go over here and you click News, you'll see at the top here they've got My News.

And then, of course, they have down here more channels that you can actually pull up. And so if you go across here, yep, our app is actually in here as well. And so you can grab the app right there as well. Or you can go up to channels in here and you can scroll down to Blackstar Network app, which is right here, and you can actually make it your favorite. So when you actually open up Amazon News, boom, our 24-hour streaming channel comes right up. And so all of our programming is on here. The show is on here. And as you see right here, when you pull up the Black Star Network,

they have also many other clips that are on here as well for other content that we've done on the show. And so they have as on the show. And so, uh, they have some of the, some of the clips, so they'll have, they'll have everything here, uh, but they have some of the clips, uh, that we've done, uh, on different, different particular issues, uh, on the show. So this of course was when we were in Los Angeles. And so again, if you want to check us out on Amazon news, all you have to do, uh, is, uh, just pull up, uh, you've got Amazon Fire TV, pull the app up. And there are some other platforms I'll be announcing soon. We'll be on two or three platforms next month for our 24-hour channel. And so this is all about us having, again, a real 24-hour,

seven-day-a-week Black news and information channel. And so when I'm talking to you about supporting us in what we do and I'm walking you through the fight that we have to get advertising dollars, it is about us being able to grow this because there is no other. Let me say this again. There is no other 24 hour black news and information network in America. Black news channel, they shut down. Byron Allen doesn't have it. He bought black news and information network in America. Black News Channel, they shut down. Byron Allen doesn't have it. He bought Black News Channel's assets. But, of course, they flipped to the griot.

If you pull up, in fact, I'm just going to show you here. This is just no shade on them, but I'm just actually showing you. When you go on here and you go to news, and when you go on here, they actually have the griot on here as well. You've got, for instance, Fox Soul is on here. They've got their 24-hour channel. But you can tell, that ain't news. That ain't news.

They've got entertainment stuff on there. And so when you go over here to, and I think between Foxhole and The Greer, these are the only other two black-targeted and black-owned apps that are on Amazon News. Well, they're in a commercial break, but again, they've got a movie that's showing. And so, again, I'm just walking you all through why we do what we do, why your support absolutely matters, because we cover the stuff that you care about, such as Prairie View A&M University.

That's Ruth Simmons, of course, when she stepped down as president because she felt she wasn't being allowed to do her job. Well, she's finally talking. She gave an interview with Cambrill Marshall, who's with KPRC-TV Channel 2 in Houston, where in this first clip, she talked about when she was told she could not continue to hire folks, and she had a problem with that. So listen to what she told him in the first clip. The system approached me and asked me to stop making appointments.

And I had four months to go. And I thought, well, that's very odd. Why should I do that I want to put as much time as I can in helping the university and making the way for the new president to be successful when I sought to learn what was going on why why is it you don't want me to be president anymore I got no response I wrote a letter to the Chancellor asking for clarification and saying, I intend to be a president in full for as long as I'm here. And if I cannot be there, that I'll step down. And he

gave me no answer at all. Not even after that? Not even after that. Instead, the response I got was speak to the public relations person about the text of your resignation. So the only response I got was a public relations response, which is, okay, that's fine, but we want to make sure that when you tell the story of your stepping down, we control it. So that seems like a slap after all that you've done at the university. From the outside looking in, that seemed to be a slap, a backhand. Well, it seemed that way to me.

And I was, you know, I'm not a very demanding person in terms of things that I want for myself. I'm very demanding in terms of what I want for my students and for my campus. And I don't want my campus to be denigrated in any way. Okay. I don't want it to be treated as if it doesn't have the capacity to prosper on its own. And that's what it felt like to me. Now, she also said that it's time for a new governance structure because Prairie View is under the Texas A&M University system. She says that should change. We have a governance system that does not represent us.

And so one thing that could be done is to change the Board of Regents and the structure of the system so that there's more agency for the universities of the system so that there's more agency for the universities within the system, particularly when you have one that is so different from every other institution, historically and otherwise, in the system. I think it's good for Prairie View to be in the Texas A&M system. If Texas A&M values Prairie View and treats it with respect and gives it representation, then it's fine.

But right now it needs some help. Right now it needs some help, and I'm available to advise them about how to do that because I advise boards all over the country. Shade! That was some shade, Matt! Yes, it was. I advise boards. I'll help them.

I advise boards all around the country. Kelly? Now it's going to cost you. You know, you had me for a good price as president, but now it's going to cost you, and I need some more zeros behind whatever you just tried to throw at me. Michael. Yesterday's price is not today's price.

Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Her, her price is going up and it, there's something, hopefully we can find out like what's really behind all of this. And, you know sometimes when you have not saying is this situation sometimes when you have

situations like this where you have the favorite person who's pushed out she could be favored by say the um students or something like that sometimes there's a situation where the person that replaces her is cozy with the president or really cozy with the board or what have you. So not saying this is the case, but it's happened before. So hopefully we'll find out what's behind this. But, yeah, her price just went up on this also. So hopefully they could pay her price.

We'll see what happens with this. Yesterday's price is not today's price. Yeah, this is inflation in a good way, I guess. I guess it's inflation in a good way. I'm trying to tell y'all what Ruth Simmons is saying is black people need to be governing Prairie View A&M University and not mostly white regions of the Texas A&M University system. I said it.

We did reach out to Ruth Simmons. Hopefully, we'll get an opportunity to interview with her. That interview airs this Sunday on Newsmakers on KPRC Channel 2 in Houston. No Cambrere Marshall. Well, in fact, I used to do that show. I was a regular panelist on that show when I ran the Houston Defenders. So I know it quite well. So I can't wait to see the full interview. All right, y'all. Got to go to break. We'll be back. Roland Mark down the filter right here on the

Black-owned Black Star Network. Go ahead and show the graphic. Download the app. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV. Kenan, you're watching. Send me a text. Let me know how many downloads we have of our app so I can know what number we're about to hit. Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung, Smart TV. And as I said, if y'all want to check us out on Amazon News, well, all you got to do, folks, is simply go to Amazon Fire, click Amazon News, and then you can actually check us out on their app. And then, now that was their guide to free read. I got some news on that, but I can't tell y'all that with y'all right now. So I can't share that with you. But again, you can check us out on Amazon News as well. And again, y'all, we are the only, let me say again, ain't nobody else doing what we're doing.

We're the only black-owned, black news information network in the country. We want y'all to support us in what we do. So send your check and money orders to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo's RM Unfiltered. Zale, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

Back in a moment. Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not repent. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting.

I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist

in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is Whitefield. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network

for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. Hey, I'm Deon Cole from Blackist. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. According to the National Center for Education Statistics,

black men make up 2% of all teachers nationwide. Well, a group out of Maryland wants to change that. They want to change how black male educators are honored, supported, and mentored. Folks, the Bowie Black Male Educators and Leaders Alliance, the Center for Research and Mentoring of Black Male Students and Teachers, and Bowie State University National Alumni Association have partnered to put more black men in the classroom. Joining us now, Dr. Julius Davis, the founding director of the Center for Research and Mentoring of Black Male Students and Teachers.

Joining us from Bowie. All right. So how does collaboration all come together? Well, in 2019, Bowie State University received the University System of Maryland Wilson H. Elkins Professorship. And with that award in 2019, we created a center. And we used that award to galvanize our alumni, our current students, and our partners to address the pipeline. And so we created several programs to increase the number of Black men in education, starting now in eighth grade. And now we go pretty much up to doctoral level. And so are you seeing progress? Are you seeing incremental increase in numbers?

Well, the pandemic has sort of disrupted the progress that we have seen, and I don't think that we've recouped yet. I know you just mentioned the less than 2% figure. I think in a recent figure that I saw, 1.3% of black men are now represented nationally in the teaching profession. So I think we've made a decrease in progress and we have to put all efforts forward to use every avenue possible to increase the number of black men in education. What parts of the country are you seeing where you have more black male educated?

So you have 2 percent nationally, but where really are you're the congregation of your largest, if you will, where you have black male teachers? In the South, it's pretty much an area where you see a large number of black men going into education and where those who are getting the most degrees in education. And of course, HBCUs are leading that way, representing the majority of the men coming into education. And so do you believe that these school districts should be specifically partnering with HBCUs in order to increase these teachers? I know some individuals with charter schools who actually do that. Well, you know, what I've found in my own work is I think a lot of people put that in their strategic plans, but they don't really devote any human

or financial resources to really, truly increasing the number of Black men in the field of education. So I think that a lot of places around the country have given it lift service. But when you start asking questions like, how much money have you devoted to it and who's committed to this work within your system, then you tend to find that there's not an answer for who's doing that work. Questions from the panel. Michael, you first. All right, Dr. Julius Davis, thanks for this information. So when we look at less than 2% of African-American, less than 2% of teachers are African-American males, what are some of the reasons that you do with your program? What are some of the reasons that you give

for African-American men to become teachers? We know traditionally that's been more dominated by women. I have a lot of teachers in my family. So what are some of the reasons why you give to African-American men why they should become teachers? Well, the majority of the teaching workforce are white middle-class women. And what we've tried to do is create safe spaces for Black boys and men, which is not typically the case for Black men in education. If you look at the statistics around Black boys in K-12, you see high rates of suspension. Dr. Kanjufu told us about putting Black boys into special education. And so the experiences of Black men and Black boys in our

educational system haven't been good. So many of them haven't looked to pursue it as a career. That's one of the things that we found. The other thing that we found in our Black Mouth Teachers College program is that our program is oftentimes the first time black boys from eighth grade to fourth grade have been asked to even consider the teaching profession. Right. Kelly. Hi, Dr. Davis. First and foremost, I'm a Bowie State alum, so this is making me incredibly happy and proud to be part of the Bowie State Bulldog family and just wanted to extend my congratulations. With that said, obviously there is a shortage in Black male educators on the grade level. But my understanding is that there's also a shortage on the higher education level as well. Is there something in your program that's going to address that to entice Black men to enroll in programs that will lead into professorship and tenured professorship tracks and things like that. But also within that, in the curriculum you're going to build within this

program, is there going to be a component regarding hostile work environments and how to navigate those things? Because I've actually been blessed to have a lot of Black male teachers in my life, some of my greatest mentors as a result of being at Bowie State, Black male mentors who were professors and the like. But even on the grade level, because I grew up in D.C. and I didn't realize that was not a thing nationwide. That said, as my friends are, my Black male friends who are in education have told me plenty of stories of them being in relatively hostile work environments because of what they're trying to bring to their individual schools through the lens of Black men. So is there

anything you're talking about to combat that as well? So we're looking to increase Black men in all areas of education. And right now we're actually doing an academic learning community called the Shop Black Men in Education from the community to the classroom. And we want to let Black men know that your contributions are needed everywhere, including higher ed. And so many of our young men actually want to teach at the higher ed level. Many of our students who are in our undergrad and master's program, we encourage them to consider the professorship. And at Bowie State University, it's very unique that I'm probably one of 10 Black men faculty at a college event. And so they get to see their representation all the time. And that's one of the things that our Black men in our Black Mount Teachers College programs share oftentimes, that they're on the

line with Black men doctors, teachers, and others who share their interests in a light. Matt? Yeah, Dr. Davis, congratulations on being the only HBCU to get this money through the foundation. My question for you is this, is there a component of your program as it relates to grants that provides a subsidy for Black men working in K-12 schools or anything else, kind of like Teacher for America or a program like that that incentivizes people becoming teachers? So one of the things that we're fortunate at Boise State University is that there are several U.S. Department of Ed-funded grants, federal grants, state grants that are supporting Black men getting an education. The grant that we were awarded through the U.S. Department of Ed through the Hawkins program will allow us to give scholarships and mentorship to students who are interested in becoming teachers

to connect with people in the field. One of my other colleagues, Dr. Will Parker, has a master's level grant at the U.S. Department of Level where we're helping to support Black men who are getting into education. And so we are trying to do our part at every level, undergrad, high school, middle school, because we think that all those avenues are needed to increase the pipeline of Black men into education. All right, folks, one more. Where did they go? You can visit us at Bootset University Center for Black Males, and we're on all social media platforms, Center for Black Males,

Center for Research and Mentoring of Black Male Students and Teachers. Thank you for the opportunity. All right, thanks a bunch. Have a good one. All right, folks, got to go to break. We'll pay some bills. We'll be right back. Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

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How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. Get it from bookstores nationwide, Barnes & Noble, Amazon. Also, of course, download a copy on Audible. We'll be right back. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence.

You will not. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress,

whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women.

This is white fear. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie.

Hi everybody, this is Jonathan Nelson. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Faith Kennedy Phillips went missing from her Philadelphia home on January 28th. The 16-year-old is 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 150 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Faith Kennedy Phillips is urged to call the Philadelphia Police Department at 215-686-8477. 215-686-8477. 215-686-8477. A white Gulfport, Mississippi man knows how much time he's going to be spending behind bars for threatening a black family.

Axel C. Cox was sentenced to 42 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and must pay over $7,000 for burning a cross in his front yard with the intent to intimidate. Cox pleaded guilty to the December 2020 incident of criminal interference with the right to fair housing and using fire to commit a federal felony. These white folks are going to learn that this is not the Trump DOJ, Matt. No, no, it's definitely not. Three and a half years hard time uh is good it's good here because he knows exactly what he was attending attempting to do exactly what kind of fear that invokes

and you know it's it's ridiculous especially because his lawyer was noted as saying the reason he allegedly did it is because the neighbors allegedly shot his dog uh it stands to reason that you just call the police for that you You don't put a cross on a burning, you know what I mean, try to terrorize people. So he got a hard sentence, and he should have because he knew exactly what he was doing. All right. In Orange County, a California mom has called out the school system there after her daughter was bullied and called a slave by a fellow student. The mother has been protesting Santiago Elementary School.

Jasmine Harris says a student verbally attacked her fifth-grade daughter, Paris Barnes. Barnes was playing with friends when a male student whipped a jump rope toward her and told her to get back to work, you slave. Harris wants the student expelled. However, the Santa Ana Unified School District has been slow to move after she reported the March 1st attack. The Santa Ana Unified School District

Superintendent Jerry Almendarez said his staff is working on sitting down with the families and making both parties a part of a solution. The Unified District is conducting an independent investigation of the incident. This is the statement from them. My heart goes out to Paris,

to the young lady, and I just want to make sure that she gets the support that the student needs, but also making sure that we also provide the students so this doesn't happen again. That's the superintendent. Harris has filed a hate crime and attempted assault charges with the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Kelly, that mama ain't playing. The solution is to expel that child. The solution is to lay some hands, but we can't really do that in this system. But the solution is to expel the child, period. I noticed that the name of the person who made that statement seems to be of Latinx, Hispanic descent. I wonder how they would treat this differently had it been a racial epithet against their community. I sincerely doubt they would be talking in

this manner, because this is extremely pacifist and almost dismissive compared to what actually happened. But yeah, I'm so glad I don't have children yet. I'm not ready. Well, let's go to Florida, where a Jacksonville far-right hate group is projecting hate symbols on skyscrapers. National Socialist Florida is a small white supremacist group that used a commercial-grade laser projector to put anti-hate messages on large buildings.

The group hopes the symbols will increase awareness and white male membership. Over the last several years, extremists... Hey, Ricky, I can't talk. I'm live on air, Ricky. over the last several years. Extremist. Hey, Ricky, I can't talk. I'm live on air, Ricky.

Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'll call you back, Ricky Smiley. Okay. All right, bye. Calling my ass. I don't call his ass when he on the damn radio. All right. Oh, my God. Yeah, you call me live.

I'm going to answer the phone. That's a flex. Let everybody know that. All right. They put out some hate signals over the last several years, extremist incidents and hate crimes that have arisen in Florida, according to the FBI stats. Michael, look, these races are all over the place.

You've got 30 seconds, Mike. Give your opinion on them. Yeah, they're all over the place. You got 30 seconds, Mike. Give your opinion on them. Yeah, they're all over the place, and they were protesting in this incident, apparently against drag shows. Now,

I wouldn't be surprised if some of them actually are drag queens, okay? I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. But then also, they did the same thing some months ago saying Kanye is right, you know, about the Jews, things like this. So this is something that Trump has unleashed. And and and, you know, the Department of Justice has to really go after these people. But also we have to protect ourselves from these white supremacists as well, because the Second Amendment applies to us as well. I agree as well.

All right. Kelly, Matt, Michael, we appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us, folks. That is it. I got to bounce. We're going to thank all of y'all for watching us. Don't forget, support us in what we do. Download our app.

Let's get to 75,000 downloads. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Watch us on Amazon News. If you're on Amazon Fire, simply click News. Go right to the app. You can see the Black Star Network. And also, support us with your dollars.

Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, RM Martin Unfiltered, Venmo, RM Unfiltered, Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And check out my new orders, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. I'll see y'all on Monday. Ho! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Marta. Thank you. Thank you. Black Star Network is here.

Hold no punches. I'm real revolutionary right now. Black media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of black America. I love y'all. All momentum we have now. We have to keep this going.

The video looks phenomenal. See this difference between black star network and black owned media and something like CNN. You can't be black on media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Pull up a chair. Take your seat.

The Black Tape. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering

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